Logic and Friendship? Roger Roger!
by TheThreeStorytellers
Summary: Having survived the shutdown command at the end of the Clone Wars, The Super Tactical Droid Kraken retreats from a losing battle against the Galactic Empire into unknown space, and finds himself and the remains of his fleet at a mysterious, magic world populated by colorful, talking Ponies known as Equestria. What could go wrong?
1. Chapter 1: Withdraw

Author's note: This story started out as a debate about which side would come out on top in a controlled scenario during lunch with 2 of my friends. Let the story begin!

Chapter 1

Although the Clone Wars had officially ended with the slaughter of the Separatist Council on Mustafar in 19 BBY and the resulting shutdown of almost all Separatist Droid forces, some Separatists disobeyed that order, refusing to surrender to the newly formed Galactic Empire. A few groups of Super Tactical Droids were able to conclude that the shutdown order was a trap, to bring Separatist forces down with ease, and disobeyed the order. As was the case with Kraken, a Super Tactical Droid who was rebuilt after his destruction by Anakin Skywalker. However, his days of service were far from over. Above the hydrothermal planet controlled by the Techno Union known as Hypori, a Battle of the Clone Wars continued to rage on.

Kraken gazed out the window of his Providence Class dreadnaught, 'Enforcement', surveying the Battle.

"Sir! 2 new enemy ships have just joined battle! What should be do?" A Pilot Droid asked. 2 of the new Imperial I Class Star Destroyers had jumped out of Hyperspace to join the 3 Venators and had continued to open fire on his crippling Separatist Fleet. They had already lost 4 frigates and a Recusant Class Destroyer. Kraken knew he could not win this battle.

"Prepare to jump to random hyperspace coordinates. Send them in encrypted messengers to other ships in the fleet. Withdraw all forces from battle." Kraken ordered.

"Roger Roger" replied the Pilot Droid.

The ship began to shift to the left, as did all of the other ships in the fleet. A nearby Munificent Class Star Frigate's main reactors went critical, and a massive explosion tore the small Frigate in two.

3 hologram appeared above the strategy table, of T-Series Tactical Droids, the predecessor to the Super Tactical Droids like Kraken.

"We have received your orders, commander" A monotone, yet somewhat feminine voice replied from one of them.

Kraken turned around to give a final glimpse at the Battle. He felt like a failure for his inability to protect the Techno Union planet below.

"Coordinates ready Commander!" A nearby Pilot Droid stated.

"Initiate Retreat Jump"

The ship's hyperdrive powered up, a loud hum filled the ship. All the stars that were visible began to stretch into long, blue lines as the ship entered Hyperspace and vanished in an instant. A nearby Lucrehulk Control ship, Munificent Class Frigate, and Recusant Class Light Destroyer followed a split second later.

It had been the typical, beautiful, peaceful day in Equestria. Nothing particularly important happened in Ponyville that day. All of the lights in town were except for one. In the center of town a large tree shaped castle made of crystals rose from the ground, and in its library window candle light shone out. Twilight was happily reading a book, while Spike organized the new shipment of Books which had just arrived from Canterlot.

"Did you finish yet Spike?"

"No Twilight, there's still 2 more boxes. You've been paying way too much attention to that book.

"Uh huh" came Twilight's automated response.

Spike sighed. He wished something interesting would happen, the whole week had been uneventful.

"It's 8:30, don't you think we should be getting to bed" he yawned.

Suddenly snaking back to attention. Twilight came to the realization of the situation. "Oh my, yes your right. I didn't realize it was that late!"

"Yeah you've been reading for 4 and a half hours straight." His stomach rumbled and he felt the sensation of hunger. "You even forgot to make dinner!"

"Sorry Spike, it's just that book is really good!"

"What's it about?"

"1001 facts about the Stars in Luna's Nightsky." Twilight said as she walked into the kitchen and began preparing a simple dinner. It had been a long day, but the days ahead would make this one seem like the blink of an eye.

Above the planet, a large somewhat battle damaged Providence Class carrier suddenly dropped out of hyperspace, followed immediately after by Munificent Class Frigate and a Recusant Class Light Destroyer, which was followed seconds later by a heavily damaged Lucrehulk Control Ship. The ships weren't missing an large parts, mostly just Turrets, blast marks, and some small fires on the hull.

Kraken sat in his command chair observing the scene

"Damage Report" he asked

"Shields are at 40% but are recharging with no major damage" One Pilot Droid said

"Small fires on outer hull, no major damage" said another

Kraken stood up and walked towards the front window of the bridge and stared at the beautiful planet with swirly clouds and life filled continents.

"Acceptable. Identify our location" Kraken ordered

"All stars do not match known charts. We may have jumped into the unknown regions sir" The Pilot continued.

"Scan the planet surface for life, technology and conditions. Report any anomalies. Prepare a damage report filled for the other surviving ships immediately"

"Roger Roger" replied the Pilot Droid.

Twilight woke up the next morning feeling dazed. She'd stayed up way too late and overslept. Spike was still asleep and she saw no reason to wake him yet. He'd worked hard yesterday and deserved a rest. She got groggily out of bed and started quietly downstairs to get ready for the day, even though it was halfway over. Once she was ready she headed outside, and found a newspaper outside. Luna was preparing a special meteor shower tonight, one of her most spectacular in years! Twilight was always happy to get a new reason to gaze up at the night sky, and she would do it with her friends tonight. She headed over to the market, remembering she needed to get more food. On the way she spotted Fluttershy, who was no doubt getting good for the many animals she cared for.

"Hi Fluttershy" greeted Twilight

"Oh! Um, hi Twilight. How are you?"

"I'm alright, I stayed up way too late last night. I'm here to get some fruit and vegetables, we're running out. How are you?

"I'm um, I'm alright too. I'm out getting Angel some ingredients for that salad he really likes. He's been such a good boy lately" Fluttershy said, "and then I have to get some other food for my cute little animals" she continued.

"Oh, one thing before I forget, did you hear about the meteor shower tonight? It's supposed to be a really pretty one, do you want to come over to the castle to night and watch it from the Balcony?" Twilight asked.

"Oh, sure Twilight! Is everypony else going to be there?"

"Everypony else should be there, I haven't asked them yet."

"Alright, I'll come over a little before it starts, I'll have to feed everyone and put them to bed."

"Alright. Sounds like you have a busy day ahead of you, I need to go get started in mine!" Twilight said, pulling out her shopping list from her saddlebag and levitating a quill over to add her reminder to ask Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie and Applejack to come over tonight.

"Alright, first things first, tomatoes" she said as she began reading her list and headed off to begin shopping.

Back aboard the Providence Class Carrier 'Enforcement', several hours had passed. Kraken stood at the hologram display and the 3 T-Series Tactical Droids from before stood there in their holographic forms.

"Report ship status" Kraken Ordered

The red and tan Tactical droid on the left, TJ-912 spoke first.

"Ship shields have recharged to full capacity. 70% of our starfighters were recovered from battle. Ship Engines at 87% integrity. Weapon systems at 93%. All other systems operating at standard levels" she said in her Feminine Monotone voice.

Kraken turned his head to face the blue and tan Tactical Droid in the center, TA-175.

"Ship engines are operating at 72% percent. Starboard engine has failed. Repairs are in progress." He began "Shields are 77% recharged. 84% of Starfighters recovered. Long range communications array damaged and nonfunctional. Repairs are in progress. Weapons Systems at 68%. All other systems operating at standard levels."

Kraken turned his head to face the green and tan Tactical Droid on the right, TF-1726.

"Ship shields are recharged to full capacity. Weapons systems at 89%. Engines at 91% operating capacity. All other systems operating at standard levels."

"Acceptable. Remain in contact, I have further orders."

A nearby B1 walked up to Kraken, carrying a Datapad.

"Sir, the scan results of the mysterious planet have arrived." The Droid stated.

"Report" Kraken simply replied

"The Planet's atmosphere is a type-1, suitable for most organic life forms to inhabit. The planet has a plentiful supply of water. It is also heavily populated by Life. Various new plants and animals have been scanned"

"Any detection of Intelligent Life?"

"Well, we think so, but we're not sure."

"Explain"

"Well, we are detecting several dense mostly primitive habitation centers. Very little industry and nearly no technology detected. However we are detecting a very strong Energy signature of unknown origin or function around the planet. It is not a shield, and does not appear to be generated by technology."

"Intriguing"

"That's not all sir, the species that appear to be the dominate species in this planet have never been witnessed before, or anything similar for that matter. The creatures that are in charge appear to be quadruped colorful creatures. We have a hologram projection of 3 types observed sir"

"Display it"

On the hologram table, next to the Tactical Droids 3 holograms of the life forms appeared. They were indeed quadruped and very colorful. They did not have fingers or toes, their legs simply ending is hooves, and their head was horribly disproportionate to the rest of the body. The face, aside from its large eyes and snout, appeared vaguely humanoid, possessing a mouth, ears, nose and hair. However, the 3 figures were different from each other. One had wings on its back, one had a horn protruding from its forehead, and one had neither.

"Strange" Kraken began. "The presence of wings on this particular example seems to infer the ability of flight, but I calculate the wings appear too small to get a creature of that size and weight off of the ground. And the other example with the horn, has the function been determined yet?"

"No sir, we aren't sure. Perhaps it could a be defensive mechanism like a spike?" The Droid suggested.

"Further analysis is required. Prepare scouting parties. I want them deployed via Dorch Class Boarding Craft. Each craft should contain 4 B1s accompanied by an OOM Commander and 2 Probe Droids." Kraken ordered.

"Roger ro-" the droid began only to be interrupted by another droid which quickly came running over to Kraken, loading yelling "Sir!"

Kraken turned to face the other droid, somewhat annoyed by its interruption

"What is the meaning of this?" Kraken demanded.

"Radar has detected an incoming meteor shower! It's very large and could potentially damage our ships! We have 9 minutes to prepare!" The Droid nervously shouted.

"Raise deflector shields" Kraken began, pausing for a moment to think "and prepare to launch the probes. We will launch them with the meteor shower to disguise our landing." Kraken turned to face the other 3 Tactical Droid's holograms "All ships with nonfunctional shields move out of the way of incoming meteors. Begin moving to predicted safe zones."

"Yes Commander" they all said in unison.

Nighttime fell in Equestria and Luna raised the moon overhead. The 6 friends with their little baby dragon had gathered on Twilight's Castle's balcony and were waiting for the meteor shower to start.

"Uh, Twi, are ya sure it's tonight?" Applejack asked

"Yes, the newspaper said it was, and Spike got a letter about it earlier. It's actually for us and all we've done together." Said Twilight, looking through a telescope.

"I think is see it… yep! Here it comes! Get ready everypony!"

"Ohboyohboyohboy!" Pinkie began jumping up and down in her usual playful energetic demeanor.

They all gazed up at the sky in awe as the event began. Colorful streaks flew across the sky, creating a spectacular sight, before they eventually burned up.

"Oh it's just so beautiful!" Rarity swooned "I wish I could pluck one out of the sky and put it on a dress!"

"Their fast! And awesome!" Rainbow Dash began "Well, almost as fast and awesome as me." She said, bringing a hoof to her chest.

The shower continued for several minutes, and a group of 5 very bright ones rained down, suddenly changing directions

"Hey Twi, why are those ones goin' in different directions?"

"Im not sure, but I am sure Luna planned it to happen" Twilight assured her friend.

However, those 5 never burned up, they continued to race towards the surface.

Fluttershy suddenly became worried "W-w-what if those ones hit somepony!" She stuttered.

The 5 meteors continued to fall toward the Everfree Forest on the edge of Ponyville.

A 5 loud booms were heard and the ground shook as they impacted the ground…


	2. Chapter 2: To the Forest!

Chapter 2

OOM-340's senses suddenly came back to him as his body reactivated and was dropped from the landing pod, followed by 4 other B1 Battle Droids. As they began to unload the Probe Droids and prepare them, he took in his surroundings. He was in a dark, jungle-like forest with vines, sounds of animals, and a dirt covered floor packed with thick brush. He brought his left hand up to the side of his head and activated his comlink.

"This is OOM-340 reporting in a safe landing of Group Alpha on the planet." He said in his high pitched voice.

"OOM-466 reporting Group Charlie landing!" Came another voice

"OOM-621 of Group Delta Reporting!"

"OOM-226 of Group Echo Reporting!"

"This is OOM-227 of Group Bravo! Sorry for the delay!" Another droid began. "Wait, we have movement. Oh hello there little wooden canine lifeform! What's your na-AHH IT BIT MY FINGER!" The sound of an E-5 Blaster being fired was heard over the radio "We have more of them! Alpha Group requesting help!"

"Roger Roger!" OOM-340 shouted, turning around to see the group had successfully unloaded the Probe Droids and sent them off to scout. "Follow me, squad Bravo is encountering hostiles"

"Roger Roger" the B1s all said in unison and they hurried off the Bravo Group.

"What if somepony got hit?" Fluttershy said, with a high amount of concern in her normally quiet voice.

"Fluttershy, I'm sure nopony got hurt" Twilight said, hoping to deter her friend from heading into the dangerous Everfree forest late at night.

"But what if somepony did? They could be in pain! Or d-d-dying!" She cried.

"Alright alright, we'll go check, but we're not staying any longer than we need to. I already overslept today and I don't need to again. I'll go put Spike to bed and we can go."

"Aw come on Twi!" Spike complained.

"You're a baby dragon and you need your sleep, I'll talk to you about it in the morning, ok?" Twilight said, giving a smile and a hug.

"Alright alright I'm going"

"Don't forget to brush your teeth!"

"Yeah yeah"

"Oh he's just so precious, my little Spikey Wikey" said Rarity.

Twilight turned around "Alright, who else is going on this little late night adventure?"

"I could go up for an adventure, it sounds like fun!" Pinkie said.

"Ah need to get back, but ah want to make sure you're safe sugarcube" said Applejack

"I'm no chicken, I'll come along. It's not like the forest is scary or anything" Dash said in a somewhat fake sounding voice of confidence.

"Well", Rarity began "Ladies need to get their beauty sleep, I really should be getting back"

"Ooh! We got a scaredy cat" Rainbow Dash teased "you're scared of the forest!"

"I am not!"

"You are so!"

"I am not!"

"Then prove it, come along! Unless you are too chicken!" Smirked Dash

"Oh IT. IS. ON!" Rarity said in her dramatic fashion.

They headed down the stairway of the castle and out into the night, into the forest with a thousand stars above them…

OOM-340 hurried though the brush with his squad behind him. They were 15 feet from Bravo Groups location and could hear and see the Blaster Bolts being fired. They reached the clearing, and the scene was a strange one.

There was Bravo Group, or what was left of it, fighting against a pack of vicious wolf-like creatures, but what made them strange was their appearance and composition. They appeared to be made almost entirely out of wooden logs and sticks, with bright green glowing eyes and leaves as eyebrows. There was a large pack of them attacking Bravo Squad, who was backed into their landing craft. Two on the edge of the clearing were fighting over a destroyed B1 Battle Droid, one grabbing at the neck and the other at the arm, before the head tore off and the one began to chew on it like a bone.

Frightend and disgusted at these creatures, OOM-340 yelled "OPEN FIRE!" And his troops did as they were told, blasting the pack, and killing several of them. When the wolves died, rather than simply falling over, they exploded into small shards of wood. The pack leader turned to face them, and charged at OOM-340. OOM-340 squeezed the trigger on his E-5, which was set to automatic and let out a blast of shots into its face, causing it to explode in front of him. The other wolves appeared notably angered by the death of their pack leader, and some became more ferocious. 3 more charged at OOM-340 and his squad but were quickly blown apart, launching shards of wood everywhere.

"That didn't seem so hard" said OOM-340.

Moments later the shards of wood began to reassemble, floating together and forming 4 more of the wolf creatures.

"Umm, what?!"

They all began to charge at him specifically. OOM-340 flinched and it looked as though he was about to become a new chew toy until suddenly a volley of Blaster fire came from under the pod, killing 2 of the wolves and scaring the other 2 into retreat.

"Don't let them retreat! Blast them!" OOM-340 ordered.

As the wolves began to retreat back into the forest while under fire from the rest of the squad, OOM-340 walked over to the pod. Hiding underneath it were the remains of Bravo Squad. There were only 2 B1s left, and they both stood and saluted OOM-340 when he approached.

"Where's OOM-227?" He asked.

"Destroyed sir, along with B1-8863 and B1-3662. We're all that's left. Well, that and our Probes. I guess you're in charge now?" said the one

"Im the commander now, you're my units now. Gather your supplies and follow us. We have exploration to do" OOM-340 ordered.

"Roger Roger"

Already deep within the Everfree, Fluttershy and the group made a B-line right for the nearest impact, which was made by Group Alpha. They stepped into the notable shady area, and were all shocked at the sight. A large tan cone shaped craft suspended by 4 "arm" like prongs was lodged into the ground, and there were several crates on the ground, all empty of whatever contents they contained.

"Ooh! What a doozy!" Shouted Pinkie Pie, excited by the sight "what if we get to make new friends?! OOHICAN'TWAITTOMEE-"

Pinkie was suddenly interrupted when Applejack shoved her hoof into her mouth

"Quiet Sugarcube, were not alone!"

"Um, he-hello?" Fluttershy said as the walked nervously up to the large craft, with fear in her voice. "Is there anyone in there? Are you hurt?"

"Fluttershy, I think it's empty, whatever was in it is gone." Twilight said.

Applejack walked up to the craft and gave it a light kick "What the hay is this thing anyhow?"

Rarity walked up to the craft to join Applejack in examining it

"I'm not sure, but it's terribly unfashionable. It's so silly colored, and mechanical! It lacks any kind of elegance."

"I hate to interrupt everypony, but I've found something" Dash said, floating over.

"What did you find?" Twilight asked

"I think I found some tracks of some kind."

The group followed her over to a patch of ground that was bare dirt. There were strange footprints in the ground, and there were several sets of them, with them all being identical.

"I think they went off this way" Dash said, pointing a hoof towards a small path through the brush.

"I don't know why, but I feel like we're being watched" Pinkie said "my Pinkie sense says so!"

Twilight had to agree, she did feel as though she was being watched, she had that creepy feeling.

They were being watched, but by what they didn't know. They couldn't see it. But it could definitely see them.

Above them in a tree branch attempting to blend in was a Viper Class Probe Droid. The droid zoomed in on the group, to get a better view at them so the feed on the ship would pick up better detail. Suddenly a pink blob appeared in front of the camera, which quickly came into focus as Pinkie Pie, who shouted "HELLO!". The Probe was startled by this and fell out of the tree, falling onto the ground in front of the group. They all stared at it for a moment, and it stared back. Rarity screamed at it,terrified by its spider-like appearance, before it quickly lept back up into the air and quickly raced away giving above the ground making strange noises.

"Okay, now ah think ah'm seein' things, did anyone else see that big metal spider?"

"Is it gone?!" Rarity asked, peeking out from behind the ship slowly.

Dash, silencing a laugh assured her that the metal spider was gone, and she slowly came back over to join the group.

Twilight turned to face them

"I think we should follow it" she said.

"Why in Celestias name would we do that?! Darling, that thing is creepy! Isn't that right Fluttershy?"

"Um, well it could be considered kinda cute in its own way."

"I think we should follow it girls, it has to have some relation to this strange craft" Twilight said

"Oh alright. But I'm not going to get near it!"

The group headed off following the tracks…

Kraken watched the feed as a Probe Droid was observing a group of the creatures. He was surprised that they spoke basic despite being completely cut off seemingly from the rest of the Galaxy. He was trying to calculate the odds of that when suddenly a pink blob appeared in front of the lense startling the Probe, screaming "HELLO!" and causing it fall in the ground and run off. Kraken was disappointed that the Probe had been seen, as it ruined the ability to hide their presence. However, it could have been worse as if they had captured the Probe, then he would be forced to imitate a self destruct function to prevent them from examining it. He needed to preserve resources, and he would need to find a way to replenish troops in the event that his reserves would become depleted. He calculated that the planet likely had metal ores and other materials under its surface, and that they could be potentially mined to gain resources. However to build Droids, they would need a foundry. That would require construction and a place. Kraken moved that thought into his memory banks for later, deciding to function of the situation at hand. He held out a hologram projector in his hand and contacted Alpha Group.


	3. Chapter 3: Who's Roger?

Chapter 3 Who's Roger?

OOM-340 had just finished reassembling one of the B1s from Bravo who wasn't too damaged. This meant that he had 7 B1s to support him and guard him. Suddenly his radio alerted him that he had an incoming message from Kraken himself! He quickly reached up to his head and activated it

"Yes Sir?"

"The natives have discovered crash site Alpha and I calculate that they are headed your way."

"What should I do?"

"Conceal yourselves to avoid detection. If you are discovered, do not engage unless engaged first. I will instruct you on proper action course if you are located."

"Roger Roger."

OOM-340 looked around, the clearing was rather devoid of cover except on the edges. OOM-340 tried to think about where to hide…

"Squad, find hiding positions. Try to hide up in the pod, or behind a rock or something. But I want you two to guard me. Do not engage unless I give the order."

OOM-340 and his two bodyguards quickly ran into a nearby bush, and ducked down. They would see a little, but not very well.

His radio buzzed again

"Have you concealed yourself"

"Yes sir."

"Remain in location."

"Roger Roger."

Right as OOM-340 said those words, there was movement in the other side of true clearing.

Twilight and her friends stepped out into the clearing, gasping, finding another one of the strange crafts lodged into the ground. However they weren't gasping at the pod, rather the rest of the scene. There were scorching holes in trees and the ground all over the clearing, and small burning logs and sticks all over. Fluttershy quickly ran over to the pieces of wood, and gave a look of horror.

Layed out in front of her were the smoking charred remains of an entire pack of Timberwolves. Timberwolves were viscous, but outright destroying them to the point they couldn't run reform was horrifying, at least to her. The best way to get rid of them was to scare them off with loud noises, or her personal favorite, her stare.

Fluttershy began to cry.

Applejack and Twilight moved over to comfort their friend

"There there Sugarcube, it'll be ok, there's plenty of Timberwolves into the Everfree" said Applejack giving her sensitive friend a hug.

Fluttershy sniffled "bu-but who could do such a thing?"

"I'm sure whoever did it had their reasons Fluttershy, it wasn't kind but it might have been a survival situation."

"Yeah, like remember the time ah saved Spike from some?"

Fluttershy knew her friends were right, surely no one would attack wolves for no reason, right?

Flutttershy wiped her tears and walked out further into the clearing, but suddenly Twilight called to everyone's attention.

"Girls! Come here and take a look at this!"

The group all gathered around a tree, and slumped against it was

the strangest sight they'd seen all day at.

Twilight had stumbled upon one of the new creatures that was likely responsible for this. It was some sort of tan, metal figure, or at least it had been. It seemed to have two legs, meaning it was bipedal and two arms, a backpack with a twisted antenna mounted on its back and a hole in the top where she assumed a head should be. There were long cables running out, and nearby on the ground was a black device, and more cables which connected to a long stick and what she could only assume was the head of the creature, which smelled of Timberwolves terrible breath, meaning it had been in ones mouth. The creature was covered in claw marks and scratches, and clearly went down with a fight.

"Sweet Celestia!" Cried Fluttershy, almost fainting at the scene of another dead creature.

"Twi what is that thing?" Applejack asked, a look of total confusion on her face, and Twilight looked back with just as much confusion

"I'm not sure, it seems to be some sort of… automated drone?"

Rarity stepped up to it "well what whatever it is it's color scheme and design is terribly tacky, so dull and ugly!

Rainbow Dash floated over

"Maybe my other special talent is discovering, because I just found another one of these things."

The group filled her over to another spot.

Indeed, there was another one, but it's chest was torn open and wiring and cables were littered everywhere, and it had mustard yellow marking on it, and no backpack, just 2 bent antennas on the shoulder.

Pinkie suddenly appeared with a Sherlock hat and bubbling pipe

"Looks like this just turned into a spooky mystery!"

Pinkie began to shudder and twitch

"You ok Pinkie?" Asked Twilight

"ThErEs a DoOzY CoMiNg AnD mY vOiCe SoUnDs SiLlY!" Said Pinkie as she was beginning to shake and bounce off the ground.

Suddenly there was a clicking sound from a nearby bush, as if something mechanical had shifted.

The group all reacted in different way.

Dash took up a combat pose,

Applejack stood firmly with a tough look but friendly smile,

Fluttershy made an "eek!" Sound, Pinkie looked curious (and excited as always), Twilight looked attentively and Rarity stepped back.

Fluttershy swallowed nervously and stepped up

"Um, he-hello? Is someone there? My names Fluttershy… do you have an name? You can tell me it, you know, if you want to and if it's ok with you…" she said, smiling in a friendly way. "We're not going to hurt you, ok? You can come out… that's, if you want to…"

The bush moved and the clicking noise was heard again as a head identical to the one being in the ground with the mustard markings slowly rose out of the bush, followed by 2 more that were entirely tan.

"Uh… hi?" Said the mustard colored head in the middle in a high pitched voice.

OOM-340 just stared. Well, if he had eyes he would be staring, he only had photoreceptors. 6 strange colorful beings stood in front of him, 2 smiling, 2 shocked and 2!in a somewhat defensive position, but the one was still smiling so that was good. He didn't know what to do. He hadn't prepared for this. He said the only thing that he could think to say.

"Uh… hi?"

OOM-340 nervously stepped out of the bush followed quickly by his 2 guards.

Suddenly the Pink one jumped up high in the air, seemingly defying gravity for a second and darted (still in the air mind you) towards him.

OOM-340 dove out of the way yelling

"Don't hurt me! I'm an innocent Droid!"

His two body guard raised their blasters and were about to fire, assuming their commander was under attack when suddenly the Pink one froze in mid air, surrounded by a purple aura and was pulled back towards the group. The purple one had a purple aura around her horn, as if she was doing it.

OOM-340 stood up, dusted himself off and gave the signal for his guards to hold their fire.

The purple one laughed nervously, a smile on her face.

"Hi, my name is Twilight Sparkle, I'm the Princess of Friendship, and these are my best friends. Sorry about my friend Pinkie, she's just really excited to meet new ponies, err, whatever you are.

"Uh, Droids."

"Ooh! That's an interesting name."

The orange one walked up, tipping her hat and began to shake his hand with her hoof so hard that the magnetic joins in his arm almost disengaged.

"Hi! Mah name is Applejack and it's a pleasure to meet yah!" She said in a strong southern accent.

OOM-340 finally managed to wrench his arm free of her grip, only to turn and be face to faceplate with a Blue one with a rainbow colored mane and tail who was floating in the air with wings on her back

"I'm the one and only Rainbow Dash! The most awesome and Fastest flyer in all of Equestria and Element of Loyalty!"

OOM-340 wasn't a specialist on organic behaviors and emotions, but he knew overconfidence and ego when he saw it, and if this wasn't it, he couldn't think of what was.

The white one with a fancy curly purple mane and tail, as well as long eyelashes walked up in a fancy way

"Hello!" She said in a fancy British accent "I'm Rarity, owner of the finest fashion shop in Ponyville and might I say sir, you are TOTALLY in need of a makeover!"

OOM-340 looked over at one of his body guards, and then back at Rarity.

"Uh, sorry sir- uh I mean ma'am but I must can't-"

"No no, I insist darling I won't charge you! Not one bit!"

"No no, really I'm uh, I'm just fine."

Lastly the Pink hyperactive one who looked as though she'd inhaled every gram of sugar in existence jumped forward.

Oh no, not this loon again, thought OOM-340.

She took in a massive inhale of air "HiMyNameIsPinkiePieAndILoveMeetingNewPoniesAndIKnowI'veNeverMetYouBeforeBec-"

The orange one suddenly shoved her forehoof in Pinkies mouth

"Slow down Sugercube, these poor fellas can't understand a word yer sayin'!"

Pinkie took a deep breath and continued "Hi! My name is Pinkie Pie and I LOVE meeting new ponies and I know I've never met you because I know everypony in Ponyville and I know I've never seen you before so your new! And you know what that means?! A WELCOME PAARRTTYY!" She shouted, jumping into the air suddenly wearing a Party Hat and blowing a Party Horn in her mouth. "What's your favorite flavor of cake?"

"Uh…"

"What about your favorite color?"

"Umm…"

"What about-"

OOM-340 suddenly interrupted

"Uh um, I'll, I'll be right back ok?"

He turned to his 2 body guards.

"Hey uh, you two stay here."

"Yes Commander"

OOM-340 walked off into the forest and got behind a tree and activated his comlink, contacting Kraken.

Krakens holopad beeped, alerting him to an incoming message. It was from OOM-340, who he'd spoken to recently. He flipped the in switch and held it out in front of him

"Report OOM-340"

"Sir, we've made contact with the native species. They seem to be friendly, but what should I do?"

Kraken thought for a moment. Now would be a chance to gain intel on the new species via direct interaction…

"You may interact with them, but do not under any circumstances reveal us, the fleets presence, The Confederacy, or any affiliation with the Probe Droids."

"Yes sir!"

"If they offer you shelter, accept their offering. I wish to hear direct reports on their behavior. If they ask about anything classified, act oblivious to it. You may interact socially, but do not engage in combat unless necessary for survival. Do you understand?"

"Yes sir! But, what about our power levels? We'll run out."

"I will have Probe Droids deliver recharge batteries to you and your squad every night. I can also locate you via radar if needed or are lost."

"Roger Roger!" OOM-340 said, before cutting the transmission.

Kraken was interested to learn more about this planet. He decided to contact Charlie, Delta and Echo teams to see how they were. He pulled out his holopad once again and held it in his hand, switching it on

"OOM-466 awaiting orders sir!"

"Report your findings"

We seem to have found some sort of, abandoned castle deep within the forest. Should we explore?"

"Explore, but do not enter dangerous or unstable areas. Report your findings back to me."

Kraken switched to contact Delta and Echo, who had since joined up to become just Delta Group.

"OOM-621 Reporting!"

"OOM-226 Reporting!"

"What is the status of your patrol? Have you discovered any things notable?"

"Well, we've been scouting out an area with caves using viewfinders and discovered some sort of sentient-doglike creatures. They appear to walk on all fours but can use their two front legs as hands. They appear to have some sort of mining operation going on, and have burrows dug into the ground."

"Continue scouting. They may be utilized in the future for mining purposes."

"Roger Roger".

OOM-340 walked back over to the group.

Pinkie was still over excited, and was about to begin bombarding him with party questions again no doubt.

Fluttershy looked over at them smiling "well, it is getting kind of late, the Everfree Forest is a dangerous place, especially at night. You can come with us to Ponyville, if you want to."

"Uh, sure"

"I have some spare guest rooms in my castle, do you want to stay there?" Asked Twilight

"Sure".

"Alright, gather your stuff and we can get on our way, we don't want to be around if these Timberwolves reassemble into a Timberwolf King" Twilight said

"A what?!" Asked OOM-340

"Don't worry, if we go quick it won't be a problem."

"Well, me and my gua-er, um, friends are ready to go"

"You don't have any possessions you need from your pods?" Twilight asked, confused.

"We don't have any possessions. We're Droids."

The group had reached the edge of the forest and began to walk in a dirt path back to town. OOM-340 was on his radio (although he was trying to hide it) giving he rest of the squad orders.

"Hey, um, I want you to go meet up with Group Charlie." OOM said as quietly as possible.

"What?" Asked Twilight

"Hmm? Oh, I um, I didn't say anything."

Everyone in the group all had somewhat sceptical expressions.

"Then who said that? Something about about a group?" She asked

"He did." OOM-340 said as he pointed at his guard on his left.

"Um, Roger Roger! I did!"

"Who's Roger?"

The guard pointed back at OOM-340 "uh, him!"

"Roger Roger!" OOM-340 replied, trying to confirm his claims.

The group stood there still, and Applejack walked up to the 3 Droids.

"Hold up, ah thought ya just said his name was Roger? And now your saying it back? Which one of ya is really Roger? Don't bother lyin' Ah know ah liar when ah see one!"

OOM-340 tried to come up with the most logical answer he could think of as fast as he could.

"All our names are Roger. He's Roger too!" He said, pointing at the guard on his right

"Yes sir!"

They all looked skeptically at each other, before nodding slowly. The group had all gone their separate ways when they returned to Ponyville. The Droids tried to be as quiet as possible when they walked, but they still made their mechanical noises as they walked.

"Ok, now everypony be quiet, my friend Spike, who's a baby dragon is asleep. I'll show you to your rooms, and then we need to get to bed."

"Yes mistress"

The castle door creaked open and the walked up the stairs. The interior was stunning, as not only was the exterior made up of crystals, but the interior as well.

Twilight lit a candle and levitated it over to a room with a bed, night stand, bookshelves and a window.

"Here's your room, goodnight." She whispered before walking up the stairs and climbing into bed.

Today had been one of weirdest days she'd ever had. Only Discord himself could come up with a crazier being.

Twilight closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep.

Back into the guest room, OOM-340 prepared to enter a "sleep mode".

"You two, enter low power mode so your power cells can recharge. Set clocks to activate at 0700."

"Roger Roger."

All 3 of them reached back and mounted their blasted on their back. Suddenly their necks and antenna restracted into their bodies and they sat down in the ground, and their arms folded up and their hands gripped around their legs, leaving them in a folded up compact position, which they were designed to do for easy storage.


	4. Chapter 4: Proper Introductions

Chapter 4: Proper Introductions

Spike got out of bed and yawned. It was the beginning of a new day. Twilight was still asleep, so Spike decided to venture down stairs and make breakfast. On the way down he passed the guest room, and noticed the door was open. Inside were 3 tan statues that Spike didn't remember being there. Maybe Twilight was going to dress them up in armor, and have them stand around the castle as knights. Spike giggled at the thought, because Twilight chose not to have guards at her castle so her friends could easily get in, so this seemed a little unlike her. Spike decided that Pancakes would make a nice breakfast, and after putting on a chef hat and apron, he began to hum and got to work.

Upstairs in the guest room, an jolt suddenly went through the 3 figures and they all stood up and unfolded into their full heights and looked at each other before walking out of the guest room and down the stairs.

Twilight slowly woke up, and walked to her bathroom where she brushed her teeth and combed her mane. She was in the middle of triple checking that she did everything when suddenly Spikes scream echoed throughout the castle. Twilight dashed downstairs in an instant.

"TWILIGHT! THERE ARE MONSTERS IN THE HALL!"

"Shh, Spike calm down, you'll wake the whole town! They're not monsters, they're just some nice creatures I met overnight."

"Well, what are they?!"

"They're some kind of creature the girls and I found last night. They seem to be friendly and they all are named Roger, at least that's what they said, but other than that I'm not really sure what they are. I offered them a place to stay and I'll ask them more about themselves today. Just calm down and we'll discuss it with them over breakfast."

Twilight walked over to her 3 new friends

"Good morning! I trust you slept well?"

"Oh yes, we have gotten time to close down like that for a while!"

"Are you ready for breakfast? Spikes making Pancakes."

"What's breakfast?"

There was an awkward silence…

"You… you don't know what breakfast is? It's the meal you eat to start the day…"

"Oh, yeah it's an organic thing. Yeah we don't do that but we'll still sit down."

Twilight was puzzled but brought them over to the dining hall and seated them. Spike came out with a plate stacked high with Pancakes, syrup, butter and orange juice.

The Droids just sat there and watched them eat.

Twilight ate her breakfast quickly and began asking questions once finished.

"Are you sure there's nothing I can get you? Juice? Water?"

"Well maybe an Oil Bath would be nice, but other than that no."

Twilight gave a puzzled look

"Okay then… but can you us a bit more about yourselves? Are you really machines? Where are you from? How did you get here? What's this thing? She's asked pointing toward the Blaster.

"Alright. We're automated life forms known as Droid, particularly B1 series and we were made by Baktoid co- er, just Baktoid Automata." He decided it was best to keep out combat from Baktoid Combat Automata to avoid any hostility. They seemed rather peaceful but he wasn't sure how they would react if they knew he was a soldier.

"Ooo! Fascinating! So there are others like you?" Twilight asked with great interest.

"Yes, lots of us."

"How did you get here?"

OOM-340 was really hoping she wouldn't re-ask that question. He decided he would think of an answer later.

"Can we come back to that one?"

"Sure. How about… what that thing does?"

"Well that's an E-5. It's used to… its… it's a… tool. For solving situations.

"Interesting, can I try it?"

"Uh… no."

"Pretty please?"

"No…"

"Pleeeeaaaasee?" Begged Twilight, making a pouty face and her pupils enlarging to an enormous size like puppy eyes and sparkling.

"No… please stop doing that it creeps me out."

Twilight looked down disappointed.

"What about those yellow markings on you? Are you special? Like an alpha or something?"

"Well, sort of. I'm an OOM series B1 so my programming is a bit better and I'm in charge of groups. These markings alert others to that. I'd imagine it's kinda like how you have both wings and… what is that thing on your head?"

"This?" Asked Twilight, gesturing to her horn "that's my Horn. All Unicorns have them and we use it to do magic, Like this." Twilight levitated another pancake onto her plate.

OOM-340 got simulated chills as it reminded him of tales he'd heard about Jedi, and their ability to move things using their mind. And how they'd cut down entire battalions of Droids...

"You ok?"

"Uh huh."

"Anyways, I used to be just a normal Unicorn, but I became The Princess of Friendship, and got my wings."

"So the winged ones are Princesses? Like that blue one with the colorful hair? She seemed kinda egotistic."

Twilight chuckled "well, not quite. There are actually 3 standard kinds of us ponies. Earth ponies like Applejack and Pinkie Pie, Unicorns like Rarity, and Pegasi like Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy. Now there is also 4th type called Alicorns, which is what I am, and only Princesses can become Alicorns, like Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, and Princess Cadance."

"Oh." OOM-340 simply replied

"So how did you get here anyways?"

OOM-340 decided to play dumb on this one.

"Well, um, I don't know. We were flying through space and suddenly crashed… here. Wherever here is?"

"Well, here, this is the land of Equestria. It's ruled by two Alicorn Princesses, Celestia and Luna. I actually have a map upstairs, wanna see?"

This was going better than he thought. If he could get a quick scan of the maps files he could send it directly to Kraken and half of their problems would be solved.

"Sure!"

"Alright, follow me. Do your friends want to come?"

"We'll follow to protect our Commander."

"Oh you don't need to worry about him, he's in good hooves!" She said, hugging him, which made OOM-340 uncomfortable.

"Yeah but it's our job"

"Alright if you really want to, you can come to protect him from nonexistent danger." She said rolling her eyes and walking upstairs.

She brought them to a room with 7 chairs in a circle, around a table with a seemingly holographic map of the land on it, complete even with buildings and trees, all in color.

"This is the Cutie Map, and it shows all of Equestria."

"That looks kinda like a hologram"

"Maybe, but it's a magical map. It can send people places when they're needed to solve problems."

"Oh."

Suddenly Spike called from downstairs

"Oh, I'll be right back. Feel free to look at the map but please don't touch anything."

With that, she stepped out of the room and down the stairs.

OOM-340 quickly walked around the table, looking for some kind of control panel with a data disk, every projector table had one. He searched and searched, but he could not find one. He touched the map, but it's hand simply went through it, like a hologram.

"Hmm…"

Downstairs, Twilight went to see what Spike wanted.

"Yes Spike?"

"Are you sure it's a good idea to be showing them all of this stuff? What if they're here to spy on us, or what if their really some kind of pony-eating monsters?! They could be dangerous!"

"Spike, they're not dangerous. They're just friendly and curious! I'd imagine anypony who suddenly wound up here would be."

"What about their Eek-5 or whatever it's called? That looks like some kind of weapon. You don't find it weird that they all carry them, and how those other two refuse to leave the other one and submit to anything he says?How about them all having the same name? All I'm saying is that I'm suspicious. I think we should write a letter to Princess Celestia about them, see what she thinks."

Twilight sighed

"Alright, of it makes you feel better we can write to her later. Now, it's impolite of me to keep a quest waiting."

With that she walked back up stairs.

OOM-340 frantically searched around for a disk or something else that could hold the intel. Suddenly he heard the clip-clop of her hooves on the floor. He got up from under the table, banging his head on it and stumbling backward clumsily into a wall.

Twilight walked in "are you ok? I heard a noise like you fell."

"Uh yeah I'm ok" said OOM-340, picking himself up.

"Why don't we give you a tour of the town? Give you a bit of a feel for it since you're probably going to stay here for a while.

"I don't see a reason why not."

"Perfect I'll tell Spike and we'll be on our way."


	5. Chapter 5: A Look Around Town

Chapter 5: A Look Around Town

Kraken spoke to Delta Group via hologram.

"Any further analysis of the Dog creatures?"

"Yes, they seem to have an obsession with Gemstones, but do not appear to be particularly bright."

"Perhaps we can offer a job contract." Kraken replied. Protection in exchange for them mining ore for aid in construction was a potential deal he could think of. Of course, if they didn't accept, he had other means of

getting their assistance, without any benefit for them.

"Excellent work. I will be sending a deployment of land troops to develope a ground operation. Remain in contact". Said Kraken, closing the transmission and contacting TA-175.

"Sir?"

"Prepare a landing operation and go to the surface and land at Delta Groups location."

"Yes sir."

OOM-340 and his guard followed Twilight down a small dirt path on the edge of town. They walked up to a small cottage and Twilight knocked in the door.

The door creaked open and inside was the yellow Pegasus with pink hair, Fluttershy

"Oh! Hello Twilight and Roger, do you want to come in?"

"Sure, I was just taking Roger and his friends o! a tour of the town, we can step in for a minute."

The inside of the cottage was filled with small houses, bird perches, mouse dens and other small animal dwellings.

"So what brings you here Twilight?"

"Well I figured you'd want to know a bit more about our friends, given that they are sort of alien creatures after all. Maybe you could show them some of your animals?"

"Oh, well, this is my bunny Angel" Fluttershy said picking up a small, white agitated looking rabbit, "and these are all of my other friends" she said, and suddenly every little house or den let out its inhabitants. A varied assortment of birds, squirrels, mice, bunnies, and other animals gathered around Fluttershy on the ground.

"So, did you want something to eat? Or tea?" Fluttershy offered.

"Sorry, we don't eat food, we're not organics" OOM-340 reminded her

"Oh, yes right. So are you enjoying your stay here in Ponyville?"

OOM-340 pondered his response for a minute. It was nice to have some time when he wasn't in combat or being constantly ordered around, and they were pretty nice to him, even if he couldn't be complete honest about himself, but the town was kinda, well, boring and, somewhat strange because everyone seemed to be overly happy, particularly the Pink one who seemed to be insane. She creeped him out. However he decided to say he was enjoying it stay, to prevent any more questions.

"It's nice."

"That's good to hear."

OOM-340 tried to think of something positive to say about her animals so she would be happy.

"Um, I, I really like your animals, they're really…"

OOM-340 frantically scanned his memory banks for terms used to positively describe small animals.

"Cute?"

"That's very nice of you to say."

Suddenly a kookoo clock went off in the room

"Oh! That's my clock to go feed the animals, I'll talk to you 4 later, if that's ok with you."

"Alright, see you later Fluttershy" Twilight said as she stepped out with OOM-340 and his guards.

They made their way down the path into town. In the distance OOM-340 could make out the pink blob of Pink fur and hair that was Pinkie Pie jumping around handing out papers. They neared a building that was different than the standard houses that most of the ponies lived in. It was shaped sort of like a Carousel but was multiple stories and obviously a building.

"This is Rarity's house and shop, she makes dresses and other clothing, but I'm not sure she'd want you stepping in there because you guys look a little roughed up and like you have some dust and grit on you, and she's kinda a clean freak.

OOM-340 wasn't complaining about not going inside, but felt insulted. Did this primitive species that lacked interplanetary travel or tech call him dirty? Did she know about the tons of bacteria that lived on all organic life forms? Given her intelligence, it seemed likely that she had some knowledge.

"Alright".

They then walked over to a building that resembled a giant pastry, like a gingerbread house with sprinkles, frosting and candy themed decorations.

"That's Sugarcube Corner" said Twilight "it's a bakery run by the Cakes, and Pinkie Pie works and lives there too. They also have 2 baby foals, want to see them?"

OOM-340 didn't like babies. They were loud, cried a lot, and didn't have off switches. Plus the few times he'd seen them they were always screaming and crying when he came close. Then again maybe that's because they were liberating their planet from Republic forces?

"No"

"Are you sure? Their really cute!"

"Uh huh, yep, I'm sure"

"Alright well then we can take you to Sweet Apple Acres, that's where Applejack and her family lives and works. I would take you by Rainbows home but she lives up in the clouds, and she's probably not home right now anyways, probably it trying some of her new stunts"

Suddenly a rainbow and blue mass slammed down into the ground in front of them and OOM-340 and his guards both stumbled backwards and fell down yelling in their high pitched voices.

Rainbow laughed

"Haha! You should've see the way you fell! Why are you looking at me like that Twilight?"

"Rainbow Dash, how many times have a told you to stop jumping down in front of ponies like that, you'll give somepony a heart attack!"

"Or sensory overload…" mumbled OOM-340 as he picked himself up

"Eh, sorry" she smiled sheepishly "I was just enjoying some fast flying and saw you walking. So what are you and these 3 up to today?"

"Well, we were going on a tour around here, and we were going to… to umm…"

"Sweet Apple Acres" reminded Twilight

"Yeah"

"Oh, well, I'll leave you to that. See ya!"

With that the cocky, egotistic Pegasus rocketed off into the sky.


	6. Chapter 6: More Introductions

Chapter 6: More Introductions

The sun began to set as they walked up a long dirt path and out of town, walking along an immense apple orchard on the other side of a fence, eventually coming up to a gate that led to a farmhouse and barn.

Walking up the path they came to Applejack, who was standing next to a tree with a bunch of empty buckets underneath. She stood up on her front legs and prepared to kick the tree behind her but stopped.

"Howdy! Nice of ya to stop by! What can ah do for ya?"

"Well we were just going on a walk around town and I thought we'd stop by"

OOM-340 stood there, thinking of what to say when an important question came to his mind

"Why are you kicking a tree?"

"Cuz that's how ya get the apples from em?"

OOM-340 thought that was strange, because it didn't seem possible for a creature of her size to knock them down by doing that.

"How?"

"Like this!"

Applejack stood on her front legs and gave a powerful kick into the tree, and suddenly all of the apples fell down into the baskets.

OOM-340 was confused more than anything, but still somewhat impressed, as she was stronger than she looked.

Suddenly 3 smaller ponies came zooming up in a scooter, 1 of each species. One that was yellow with red hair and a bow, one that was white with white and purple hair and a horn, and one that was yellow with dark pinkish red hair with wings, but in stead of utilizing the for flight appeared to be using them in a way similar to an airboat to power the scooter that they were riding.

"Hi Twilight!" They all said in unison

"Hello girls, how are you today?"

"We were good" said the yellow one in an accent similar to that of Applejack, "but what we really wanted to do was talk to the alien! Like where he's from!"

"Yeah, like how he got here?" Said the small white unicorn

"Well, only if it's ok with him" said Twilight.

"Yeah it's fine, I think I can answer some more questions." Said OOM-340

"Oh! Twilight! Before ah forget Pinkie gave me this to give you! But it's secret and you can't tell anypony!" Said the small yellow one again, holding a piece of paper in her mouth for Twilight to read, but keeping it out of OOM-340s view. Not like he could read it anyways, their alphabet was different, it wasn't written in Aurebesh or any other known fonts.

"Oh, thanks girls! I'll leave you 3 to your interview!" Said Twilight cheerily before walking off with Applejack to talk

The 3 sat down in front of the Droids and began asking their questions.

"So, first things first" said the small yellow pony "Im Applebloom, this is Sweetie Belle and that's Scootaloo" she said gesturing to the small white unicorn and small orange Pegasus. "We form the Cutie Mark Crusaders, a group devoted to helping others find their special talent and get their cutie marks!"

"Umm, What's a Cutie Mark?" OOM-340 asked

The all pointed towards the symbols on their back legs

"Well, Cutie Marks" Applebloom said "are a special marking that everypony gets once get discover their special talent! We originally formed this group to help each other get our Cutie Marks, but now that we have them, we help other ponies get theirs!"

"That's… nice of you. So do you get them painted in like my yellow markings or what?"

"Oh no, it's an amazing moments there is a bright white flash, and the Cutie Mark appears on a pony's flank! Do you have a special talent?"

"Well, um… not really, I'm kinda… normal for my series I guess?"

"What do mean series? And what are you? And what's your name?" Asked Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle and Applebloom

"My production model, is called the OOM Series. My designation is OOM-340."

"So you ARE robots!" Exclaimed Scootaloo

"Well, not really. That's like calling a common beetle a Geonosian."

"What's a Geonosian?"

"It's not important. But it's an intelligent insectoid species that created my design. Infact actually I think I'm supposed to look like them."

"So they look like you?"

"Kinda, but their more organic looking, with a hard exoskeleton, and they don't speak basic like you do."

"You mean Equestrian right?"

"No, I mean basic, that's what you're speaking."

"Well we call is Equestrian."

"Okay?"

The sun just sunk below the horizon and Twilight came back over with Applejack.

"Celestia's setting the sun! You know what the flyer said girls, let's go!" Twilight said

"Where?" OOM-340 asked

"Its secret! Now come on, we're gonna be late! Shouted the 3 fillies

"Okay…" Said OOM-340 as he was practically pulled by the 3 off towards Ponyville in the night.


	7. Chapter 7: Parties and Employment Offers

Chapter 7: Parties and Employment Opportunities

There was a thud as the C-9979 landing craft landed in the forest and it's massive doors opened, revealing its vast amounts of cargo. 5 AATs led by a column of 4 MTTs loaded with Battle Droids, while STAP Speeders buzzed ahead of the convoy.

Out of the top of the lead AAT's hatch popped TA-175.

"Landing operation complete sir" he said to Kraken in his monotone voice

"Proceed to designated coordinates"

"By your command."

Then MTTs pushed onwards though the forest, knocking down many trees as they carved a path through the forest, sending many small animals and birds fleeing.

They continued to move forwards for about 4 minutes before they came it a clearing with a large cave opening, but it appeared to have been dug out rather than natural formation, with several burrow opening around the mouth of the cave. The MTTs parted allowing the AATs to take up position in front.

Several dozen dog-like creatures crept out of the cave, a number of them wearing primitive metal armor, and the others wearing vests with pockets full of colorful gemstones. They had larger forelegs and appeared to be able to walk on two legs, as well as Kirk a gorilla. They also had short tails with spikes on them.

The back door of the lead AAT opened and TA-175 stepped out, with a Blaster in one hand, a datapad in the other and 4 Red OOM Security Droids following him as he walked up to the large father of dogs.

"What you want from Diamond Dogs?!" One of the gruff guards grumbled, slobbering on the ground.

TA-175 stood there unaffected by the guards threatening posture, as he was designed to be immune to intimidation.

"Greetings. We wish to speak with your leaders."

"Why you want to speak with pack leaders?" Barked the guard

"I have an employment opportunity that I calculate will be beneficial for both of us." He said in his monotone voice.

"Hmmm… okay, me go get leaders."

The guard ventured back into the cave and returned a minute or so later with 3 other diamond dogs, one grey one with a red vest filled with gems and a collar Also with gems, one tan short bulldog like one that wore a grey gen filled vest and a gem covered collar, and one large blue grey one with a grey vest and a collar also speckled with gems.

"Yeah, what you bucket a bolts want?" Spoke the one in the middle

TA-175 ignored the insult and continued with his offer

"I am TA-175 of the Confederacy of Independant Systems. Please identify yourselves."

"Rover" said the red vested one

"Spot" said the short one

"Fido" said the large one

TA-175 continued with his offer.

"You and your clan are now under the protection of the previously mentioned Confederacy. We present an offer that will benefit both of our groups."

"Diamond Dogs work for no one, but what is offer?"

"You will trade your abilities of mining and give us some of your metals and ores mined and we will offer you protection."

The 3 Diamond Dogs laughed

"Our guards are strong enough to protect us, no one mess with us! And we work for no one!" Rover said

"I strongly suggest you recalculate. This offer will be highly beneficial."

"We. Work. For. NO ONE!" Rover screamed at TA-175.

TA-175 calmly reached down to his datapad and pressed a button.

In perfect sync, all of the MTTs behind him opened their hatches and extended their racks, 2 deploying a battalion of B1s and 2 deploying a battalion of B2s, who all stood up and activated in sync as well. They all marched forwards until they were right up on the edge of dog's crowd of guard and miners, emitting a loud clanking with each step.

"This is your final opportunity to accept" said TA-175 "this is merely a fraction of our protective power that you are pushing away".

"And we told you we no need your help bucket heads!" Growled Fido

"Get lost!" Screamed Spot.

"Well, it seems we will not be engaging in trade of services. TA-175 said, reaching down and pressing another button on his datapad.

All of the Droids raised their blasters and pointed them at the diamond dogs.

"Wait wait, what you doing?!" Asked Rover

TA-175 simply responded by raising his Blaster and firing 2 precise head shots at Rover and Fido, leaving smoldering holes in their heads.

Spot screamed and put his hands up but was also put down by a precise head shot from TA-175.

"Exterminate the one who do not submit." He said coldly and the Droids began to open fire on the other Diamond Dogs who began to retreat back into their caves.

TA-175 stood there pleased, as he got his revenge on the disrespectful mutts, before walking back up into his AAT and contacting Kraken.

"The Natives declined the employment opportunity. Their leaders have been eliminated and the remaining are being dealt with."

"Excellent. Force prisoners to aid in construction of a base. Disobedience from them will not be tolerated."

"Yes sir." TA-175 said, as he closed the transmission and watched the fight from the top hatch of his AAT through viewfinders.

OOM-340 followed the group back to the castle, with them unlocking the front door and letting them step inside the dark entrance first.

Suddenly the lights turned on and Pinkie lept out yelling

"SURPRISE!" With confetti launching everywhere and a 'Welcome aliens' banner appearing across the ceiling.

The room was FILLED with ponies.

OOM-340 and his guards shrieked and just about fell backwards, in fact, one did.

"HI! It's me Pinkie Pie and I threw this party just for you! Do you like it? Do you like it? Did I surprise you?"

OOM-340 simply face palmed.

"Yeah sure I guess…"

"Aw, why are you so gloomy? Come on, I'll make you smile!" Pinkie said, apparently thinking the upside down U-shaped part of his faceplate was a frown, grabbing him and pulling him over to the food table.

"See! I didn't know what you liked so I made just about everything! I got cupcakes, muffins, candy, cakes of all flavors, pie, punch, cider, and all sorts of stuff! Do you like it?" She said smiling a huge smile

"Umm, yeah, umm, that's really nice of you…"

"Do you want your cupcake now or later?"

"I can't eat, I don't know why you organics don't get that. That's a thing for organics."

"Aw come on, of course you can!"

OOM-340 lifted the cupcake up to his "mouth"

"Nom nom nom" he said.

Satisfied Pinkie hopped off the go talk to the other guests.

OOM-340 elbowed a grey Pegasus with blond hair who was eating a ton of muffins.

"Hi!" She said in a bubbly voice looking up, revealing her crossed eyes.

"You want this?" He said, offering her his cupcake

"Sure! Thanks mister!"

After a 15 minute skirmish, well, it would be more accurate to almost call it a massacre as the Droids suffered almost no losses, the sound of blaster fire began to die down. B1 and B2 Battle Droids marched out of the mine escorting captured Diamond Dogs. There were Diamond Dogs of all shapes and sizes being escorted out.

TA-175 stepped out of his tank once more, to command his troops.

"What should we do with the prisoners sir?"

"Process them. Analyze their strength level. Execute the ones to weak to be of use."

"Roger Roger. Move it brainless!" The Droid said, turning to bashing the dog in front of it with his blaster.

"Do again and I bite your neck off!"

"Don't talk back to me fleabag! I'm in charge of you!" The droid gloated, kicking the dog and continuing to push him forwards towards a holding cell.

TA-175 grew tired of looking at the bodies of the dead ones.

"You 4, gather up and dispose of the creatures corpses. Loot the bodies for armor and gemstones, then burn them to leave no evidence. Salvage disabled Droids."

"Roger Roger" the Droids said glumly, clearly not pleased with their task of clean up duty.

"This is almost the worst job in the Droid army. Almost…" the one muttered.

An hour had passed and most ponies had gone home from the party to sleep, and the only ones left eventually were the 6 BFFs and Spike, along with the Droids.

"At least tomorrow's Friday" said Twilight, clearly exhausted.

"Ah need to be getting back" said Applejack

"No, no need to walk home in the dark, I'll get all of your beds ready in my room." Twilight said walking up the stairs

"Oh darling that's so kind of you, and I thought Fluttershy was supposed to be Element of Kindness!" Said Rarity

"Element of Kindness?" Asked OOM-340. Last time he checked Kindness wasn't an element on the periodic table. Maybe his archives were out of date. Or maybe he forgot. He was kinda pushing his programming these days trying to remember all this information.

"Well sir, the Elements of Kindness is one of the 6 Elements of Harmony. In Fact, the 6 of us all represent them. Twilight can tell you more about them." Rarity said

"That's… interesting…"

"Siiirrr… how… longer… much… activate… will weeee beeee?" Asked one of his B1 Guards in a long strange way.

"Um, are you ok?" Asked Fluttershy

"IIIIm fiiinneee… pooowwweerr just loooooowwww."

"Why don't you go shut down for a little?" OOM-340 suggested.

"Roooggeeer rooggeeeerrrrrr…" the droid said and slowly began walking up the stairs almost drunkenly.

"Siiirr… ppooowwweeerr ceells looww…" began his other guard."

OOM-340 facepalmed

"Go shut down for a little"

The droid drunkenly followed his friend upstairs.

"What was wrong with them? Are they sick?" Asked Fluttershy

"No, their power cells are just low. They need to go shutdown for a little. Kind of like sleeping."

"Oh. Aren't you tired too?"

A resting period did sound nice, but OOM-340 had to remain awake to report to Kraken and receive their power cells from the Probe, but of course he couldn't tell the ponies that.

"I have larger power reserves than them" he replied. "I won't get depleted until about another hour."

"Oh".

They heard the clippity clop of Twilights hooves as she walked back down stairs.

"Ok girls, the beds are ready, now let's go get ready, for bed."

Dash had had fallen asleep on a chair, as had Spike and they were both snoring loudly. Dash was woken up by Twilight lightly tapping her with her hoof.

"No I don't want to go to school mom…" she said in her sleep before waking up. "Wha? Oh hey Twilight."

"Time for bed Dash"

"Then why didn't you let me just sleep in the chair?"

"You didn't look comfortable. Besides, I have a much better bed for you upstairs."

"Sweet" she said groggily before floating upstairs"

Twilight turned to OOM-340

"How much longer will you be up?"

"A few more minutes. Don't worry about me."

Twilight levitated Spike in the air with her magic and began to walk upstairs with her friends.

OOM-340 sat alone on a chair in a dark room illuminated only by candle light. Suddenly his radio buzzed in.

He quickly activated his radio and a Probe Droid's chatter was heard on the other end. To most people, the Probes chatter would sound like incomprehensible gibberish, but it was actually Droidspeak, which was like a second language to him.

"Hello? You're here with our recharger? Good… um… drop it off at the front door I'll be right there."

The Probe beeped, signaling it understood and he walked over to the front door. Outside floated one of the Viper Probe Droids from earlier, carrying 3 charge kits in its claws.

OOM-340 took them and patted the Probe on its dome, almost like a dog.

"Thanks."

The Probe didn't reply, and simply wandered off, probably to do more spying on the town at night.

OOM-340 stepped inside and put out the candle, pinching it with his fingers.

He walked up the stairs with his new recharge kits and sat down next to his fellow Droids, plugging them into them and then himself, before shutting down for the night.

Up in Twilight's bedroom, the 7 friends gathered around in their beds in a circle.

"It was very nice to you to offer us a place to stay tonight" said Fluttershy in her soft voice.

"Well, I wasn't just being a good friend. I had something I wanted to discuss in private with you girls."

"Like what Twi?" Asked Applejack

"Well, Spike has been suspicious of our new friends, he thinks they're hiding something. What do you girls think?"

"Well, they certainly are very strange creatures. I've never seen anything like them before" Fluttershy began

"They are terribly tacky and dull looking, they just seem too… industrial." Rarity said

"Yeah, I agree with Rarity, they are dull looking, they need to be about 20% cooler." Said Dash.

"They didn't seem too excited about the party, everyone loves my parties, right?" Asked Pinkie

"As a matter a fact Twi, I do think they're hiding somethin'." Applejack began "Like how they speak slow like their being careful what they say, an makin' up excuses for their slip ups, like how they all said their name was Roger, maybe it's a code word or somethin'. Ah know when somepony's lyin' and Ah can tell there's somethin' they don't want us to know."

Spike chimed in

"Or how about how they gave Twilight and I very vague answers about their origins? They said there were lots of them, and that they were built by some group called Backta… Backtoad… back-something Automata, but why? And for who? And what about those black things they hold? They hold them sometimes like some kind of weapon!"

"Yeah, that does seem pretty shady to me" said Dash.

"Well, we don't want to accuse them of anything, maybe they're just… shy? Fluttershy suggested

Applejack shook her head

"Nah, if they were shy, they wouldn't talk so loud, and they wouldn't want to talk nearly as much."

"Alright, we'll write a letter to Princess Celestia in the morning about them, until then, let's get some sleep."

Twilight said, settling under her blanket and putting out the candle.


	8. Chapter 8: Impossible Magic

Chapter 8: Impossible Magic

Morning had come in Equestria and Twilight had begun to wake up. She sat up in bed and looked around the room.

Everyone else had gotten up, except Spike. Her bathroom light was on and she could hear a hair dryer running.

She decided to wake Spike up so that they could write that letter. She put off doing it yesterday so she could give the Rogers the tour of the town, and she wouldn't put it off any longer.

"Wake up Spike,we've got a letter to write!"

"5 more minutes" he begged

"You could've gone to sleep earlier last night, now come on, get up."

Spike sighed and got out of bed, walking over and grabbing a piece of parchment and a quill.

"Okay, go!"

"Dear Princess Celestia, the other night after your sisters beautiful nighttime meteor shower the girls and I discovered 3 very strange beings. They say they're called Droids named Roger, and they come from somewhere outside Equestria, in space. The Girls and I have been very kind to them, showing friendship and hospitality, but we feel as though they are keeping something hidden about themselves and some of us are worried. Could you and Luna possibly investigate? Your loyal student, Twilight Sparkle."

Spike sat there writing for another moment.

"Done! Ready to send it Twilight?"

"Yep!"

Spike wrapped the letter in a seal and held it out in front of him, before breathing fire on it and sending it.

"Alright, now let's get breakfast!"

"Not so fast mister, you need to brush your teeth first!"

The bathroom door opened and Rarity stepped out, having just done her hair and finished getting ready.

"Yes my Spikey, you better brush your teeth or they'll be no kisses for you!" She teased walking downstairs.

Spike darted to the bathroom and Twilight laughed.

OOM-340 reactivated and stood up, feeling refreshed. He unplugged himself and his comrades, who also stood up and turned on.

"You two, come with me"

"Roger Roger!"

The 3 walked downstairs into the kitchen, where they found Applejack and Pinkie Pie making Breakfast. Rarity was sat down at the table, and Dash was stretching her wings.

"Where are the other 3?" Asked OOM-340

"Fluttershy went to her cottage real quick to feed her critters." Said Applejack "she said she'll be back. As for Twi and Spike, they haven't come down yet."

"Oh."

They sat down at the table and Applejack came over with a tray of toast, eggs and milk.

"Breakfast is served everypony!"

Twilight and Spike walked downstairs

"Good morning everypony! I trust you slept well?"

"Indeed darling, it was quite nice." Said Rarity.

Suddenly, hearing her voice, OOM-340 was reminded about her mentioning some Elements that he wanted to ask Twilight about. Kraken was always pleased to hear more information.

"So um, uh Twilight? I had some

more questions." Said OOM-340

Twilight sat down at the table with Spike and everyone else.

"Sure? What do you want to know?"

"What are these Harmony Elements you were talking about last night?"

"Well, the Elements of Harmony are 6 of the most powerful forces of Magic in existence" Twilight explained "and we represent all 6 of them. I'm the Element of Magic, Applejack is the Element of Honesty, Rarity is the Element of Generosity, Rainbow is the Element of Loyalty, Fluttershy is the Element of Kindness and Pinkie Pie is the Element of Laughter."

"What do they do?"

"It's complicated and it depends what they are used on, I'll just leave it at that." Twilight said, and began to eat her breakfast.

TA-175 watched the prisoners work with an attentive gaze. He calculated that although the prisoners were mining and constructing at an acceptable level, they could be operating at as much as 10% more efficiently.

He turned to a nearby Commander Battle Droid

"Order the prisoners to work faster or they will face ration reductions. Those who continue to work at this speed will not consume food."

"Roger Roger"

The base's foundation was almost complete with the needed area mostly cleared. Although the base was going to be constructed using mostly local materials and supplies onboard the ships in orbit, it would still be considered rather shanty compared to other Separatist Bases, and a makeshift smelting area had been set up nearby to help prepare metals and ore for use in the construction.

"Report" he asked a B1 overseeing a group of prisoners smelting rocks for ore

"Operating at same capacity as before sir."

TA-175 decided that if production continued at this pace, they could have the base ready in 2 days.

"Acceptable.

Back at the Castle of Friendship, breakfast was wrapping up and the rest of the girls had gone home.

OOM-340 and his guards decided to stay inside today, as word of their arrival had gotten around Ponyville, but they didn't want the attention.

It would've have mattered anyways if they did want to go outside, as a storm was approaching, and most ponies were trying to get their errands done before it started to rain. OOM-340 stood at a window looking out, keeping his radio in a One way opening to Kraken, almost acting as if he was wearing a wire.

"I don't understand where this rain suddenly came from, 15 minutes ago there was nothing!" OOM-340 said.

"What do you mean? The Pegasi needed to let it rain so the plants around here could grow, and they said it in this morning's newspaper." Replied Twilight

"Wait, the winged ones made all these storm clouds?"

"Well yeah, they control all the cloud movement and weather, don't you have somepony where you're from that does it for you?"

"No, weather everywhere else is self controlling, and quite annoying."

"Interesting! Sounds kind of like how the Everfree Forest's Weather changes in its own! Is there anything else where you're from that change on its own?"

"Normal stuff I guess, tides, day and night…"

"Your day and night changes to?!" Twilight exclaimed

"Basically every planet has one that does it in its own. I don't know why though, that's it my specialty."

"Well here in Equestria, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna control the sun and the moon's rising and setting."

"How?"

"Well, they have very powerful magic, they're the oldest, wisest, most powerful ponies in all of Equestria!"

Kraken sat listening to this. If he had coffee and was programmed to have a sense of humor, he would've spit it out laughing.

Although the movement of the Star and moon of the planet had been unusual, Ponies controlling the movement of massive celestial bodies and weather was easily the most ludicrous thing he'd ever heard!

"The probability of her statements being true is impossible! To be able to control a mass of such size as a Star or moon would require greater mass and gravitational pull."

Then again, Kraken remembered they were receiving a strange energy reading from the planet. Could this be the reason? He entered deep in thought…

OOM-340 and Twilight continued to watch the storm outside.

"So what else can they do?"

"Well, not only are they the leaders of Equestria and have been for thousands of years, but they also trained me in magic!"

"How does this magic work anyways?"

"Well, it's very complicated to explain, but all of us Ponies have some kind of magic. Infact that's actually how the Pegasi interact with the clouds. Earth ponies, have a magical connection with the dirt and soil, and are typically very gifted farmers. Unicorns like I used to be are really the only Ponies though who can actually perform and interact with magic."

"Through your horn?" asked OOM-340 tapping her horn

Twilight winced

"please don't touch it, it's very sensitive. But yes, we use our horns to perform magic."

"That's… interesting. It kind of reminds of-" he stopped. He couldn't mention the Jedi or the War or the Separatists!

"Reminds you of what?"

"Nevermind"

Maybe Spike was right. Maybe they were hiding something.

Kraken continued to think. If theses beings truly were as powerful as they were said to be, they would make a powerful ally. Perhaps they could even be persuaded to join the Confederacy. He thought about the probability of an alliance, but he wasn't sure about their personalities, and as a result couldn't accurately predict an outcome.

He needed someone to meet them first…


	9. Chapter 9: It was a Big Lizard Thing!

Chapter 9: It was a Big Lizard Thing!

OOM-340 decided to turn off his radio to save power. He didn't know if the probes could get him another charger packet through the storm, and he didn't want to risk being caught with no power.

Twilight walked over to her library and sat down, grabbing the book she had begun to read a few days with her magic.

Spike was sitting at another nearby table reading a comic book.

"What are you doing?" OOM-340 asked Twilight

"Reading"

"What though?"

She levitated the cover so it was facing him.

"I can read that."

She lowered the book

"You can't read?"

"No, that's not Aurebesh"

"What's Aurebesh?"

"It's a… font I guess?" OOM-340 answered unsurely.

"Well, I can teach you the Equestrian alphabet later, I have book for beginners. Anyhow, the book I'm reading is called '1001 Facts about the Stars in Luna's Nightsky', part of the 1001 series, I have a whole shelf of them over there" she said, gesturing to one of the many book lined walls. Up until this point, OOM-340 never really noticed how many books there were. They covered every wall, and then there were still some stacked on the tables!

"You like to read?"

"Oh, I LOVE books, books are some of my best friends, aside from the girls and the princess!"

"So you don't use electronic archives to store data?"

"No, that stuffs only theoretical. "

"No it's not we hav-" OOM-340 stopped himself again. He was about to mention the fleet and its archives. He really needed to think about what he was saying. "I-I mean, me have some on… back where I'm from."

"Why didn't you just say so?"

"I um, I don't know."

Suddenly Spike threw his comic book the side and held his hand to his stomach which puffed up.

"Is he ok?" Asked OOM-340

Suddenly his cheeks puffed up and green fire shot out of his mouth into the air which materialized into a letter.

"Ew, did he just… puke out a letter?!"

"Yes! It's a letter from the Princess!" Twilight exclaimed, quickly grabbing it and opening it with her magic and began reading it in her head

"Dearest Twilight,

These new creatures you describe sound fascinating, and Luna and I would love to meet them. However Luna and I fear that they may not be alone, as we feel a slight disturbance when we raise the sun and moon, like something else is also occupying the space. If they are associated with it, we must know. Would they be up for meeting tomorrow us tomorrow?

Your former teacher, Princess Celestia"

"What does it say?"

"She's and her sister say they'd love to meet you 3!"

"That's… good?"

"Yes! That means you're really special!"

That made OOM-340 feel good. He wasn't just another number anymore, he wasn't just another B1. He was special! But… would they like him? He needed to ask Kraken what to do…

"Hey, uh, I'll be right back."

"Where are you going?"

"I just want to go for a quick walk in the hall."

"Do you want use to come with you sir?" Asked his guards

"No, stay here."

He walked out into the hall.

Kraken was monitoring the storm though the eyes of his Probe Droids, when he received another message from OOM-340.

"Report."

"Their leaders know about us."

"They are aware of the fleets presence?"

"No sir, just mine and my guards. They say the want to meet us. Should we make a run back to the forest and regroup?"

"Negative, I want you to undergo a meeting with them. I want you to run your radio during the meeting so I can assess their personalities and the probability of an allegiance."

OOM-340 stood there nervously

"Are you sure?"

"Is there a problem?"

"It's just… I'm not a protocol droid!"

"If you behave as you have been I calculate you will be fine."

"Roger Roger…" said OOM-340, closing the message.

Back in the Everfree night was beginning to fall. TA-175 calculated that working the prisoners at night could potentially be dangerous to their health as the forest was full of strange creatures, but this was of no concern to TA-175. He wasn't programmed to be particularly sympathetic, especially towards prisoners.

The Droids and AATs were evenly distributed around the edge of the clearing to prevent any prisoners from escaping, and any unwanted creatures from getting in.

Or at least that's what it was supposed to do…

Patrols earlier had spotted a large lizard creature in the nearby forest, and the squad sent to investigate had not checked back in for 3 hours.

TA-175 was about to send out another patrol party to find them when an OOM Commander informed him of their return.

"Sir! Patrol Team D6 has returned!"

TA-175 walked outside of the finished command center section of the base to begin scolding the late patrol.

Before him stood 3 Battered B1s and their equally worse for wear OOM Commander. They appeared somewhat charred, as if they had been near burned or in fire.

"Your arrival is long overdue. Where have you been?"

"Sir, it's not our fault!" The Droid began "it was the huge lizard creature!"

"Define this creature"

"It was big, red, scaly, it had arms and legs and a tail, claws, and wings, and could shoot fire! That's what happened to the rest of the squad!"

"Why did it take you so long to return?"

"We had to hide from it, and it scorched an entire part of the forest looking for us!"

Suddenly TA-175 was not angry with the squad anymore.

"Return to the landing ship and clean yourself up."

"Roger Roger!"

OOM-340 sat in the library with Twilight Sparkle, as she tried to get him to understand the Equestrian Alphabet from a book called 'A Filly's Guide to the Alphabet'.

He had drawn his best impression of the Aurebesh Alphabet, and he was beginning to understand theirs. From what he could decipher, their language was spelled the same way as basic, but just with a different font and certain words were changed such as everybody was changed to everypony.

"That's so strange, I can't believe we have the same alphabet!" Twilight said, thrilled by the strange coincidence. "I thought it was fascinating that that we could understand each other too! The odds of this are crazy! Maybe you are one of Discords creations."

"Discord?"

"Discord is the God of Chaos, likes being wacky, silly, and chaotic. He once main it rain chocolate rain from

Cotton candy clouds!"

The more OOM-340 stayed on the planet, the more strange it got…

"Well, how about you keep practicing this, I need to go make dinner?" Twilight said, getting up and walking out of the library.

TA-175 began to assess the best way to defeat this so-called "lizard creature". First to defeat the creature he had to find it first. Learn about it, get to know it. Amnd Spying was the easiest way.

"Dispatch several Viper Probes to find, track and investigate the Creature. We will find where it resides and eliminate the threat". TA-175 ordered to his OOM Commander assistant.

"Roger Roger sir!"

Outside several Viper Probes reactivated at their recharge stations and floated off into the night, garbling in their coded language…


	10. Chapter 10: Dragons

Chapter 10: Dragons

Krakens holopad buzzed, alerting him of a transmission. He turned it on a and was greeted with the sight of TA-175.

"Report"

"Our patrols have been under attack by large reptilian creatures. Have your scans located any of them?"

"Affirmative, we have detected several in your area, and hundreds in a volcanic region far south of the forest."

"What information do you have on this species?"

"Inadequate data, but they appear to be immune to heat and have ability for flight and emitting fire. I will see what I can gain from my spy unit."

"Obtained data would be useful if shared"

"I will contact you when new data is obtained."

"Understood sir."

Kraken understood that these creatures were a huge threat. If they were immune to heat, standard blasters wouldn't have an effect in them, and neither would Defoliators Tanks. Perhaps a bombing strike would be required, or heavy explosives.

He switched raised his hand to his temple and switched on his radio.

"Unit OOM-340 report in"

"Yes sir?"

"I require data on the large reptilian species that dwells on this planet. . They have been posing a threat to our outpost and must be eliminated."

"Roger Roger, I'll see what I can find it."

OOM-340 walked back into the library, over to Spike who was reading his comic book again. Spike was reptilian right? Maybe he was related. Of course that would make him a threat but he seemed tame enough.

"Excuse me sir, I have some questions."

"Yeah?"

"What are you again?"

"I'm a Dragon. Well a kid one anyways."

"Can you tell me a bit more about them?"

"Well, we're fireproof, and we have firebreath, and we can get pretty huge."

"What do you eat?"

"Well, most Dragons eat meats and creatures, but I eat normal Pony food. But one thing we all love is gemstones!" He said, licking his chops.

"Gemstones?"

"Yeah! They taste delicious!"

"How can you eat them? They're really hard and I heard organics often go to great lengths to get them."

"What do you mean? You can find them all over Equestria underground! But they're like hard candy. Mmmm candy!" He said, rubbing his stomach

Although he was no gemologist, OOM-340 knew that be able to crack gemstones they must have incredibly hard teeth. They could likely use him as a mere chew toy.

"Are they mean? The big ones?" He asked nervously

"A lot of them, yeah, but many aren't too bright. I went to the Dragon Lands before and there were a group of older Dragons who were really mean to me. But then Princess Ember became the new Dragon Lord and now they mostly listen to her.

"So, Dragon Lord is a leader title? Like a general or something?" He asked

"More like a king or queen, but yes." Spike replied

"Okay. Where do they live?"

"Well, most live in the Dragon Lands, and that's south of here, but some live in the Everfree Forest."

OOM-340 needed to think of an excuse to get rid of Spike so he could report back to Kraken. He thought walking out of the room again would seem suspicious.

"Twilights making dinner, do you want to go downstairs and help?"

"Um, sure?" Spike said unsurely before walking out of the library and downstairs.

OOM-340 couldn't risk him coming back to early if Twilight declined his help. He gestured to his guards

"Block the door, I'll let you know when he can come back."

"Roger Roger!" They said walking over and taking guard positions.

OOM-340 activated his radio…

"Um, sir? I have some intel for you."

Spike walked downstairs into the kitchen. Twilight was there, cooking some kind of soup.

"Hey, do you need help?"

"No thanks Spike, I'm good. I got everything I need right here." She said, gesturing to a cluster of ingredients with her hoof. "Why?"

"Well, Roger said maybe you'd appreciate the help, so I came to see if you wanted any."

"That's strange, he never usually asks if anyone else wants anything. Maybe he's starting to understand Friendship a little more. Then again, you'd think he'd come down himself."

"Maybe he isn't a talented chef?" Spike suggested

Twilight chuckled

"Maybe. Why don't you go settle back down with your comic? I'll let you know when the soups ready."

"Okay. Give me a shout if you need anything."

Spike walked back upstairs, nearing the library. He could hear one of the Roger's high pitched voice, but due to it echoing off the crystal walls he couldn't understand it. Maybe it was talking to the other two.

Spike turned the corner and went to walk back into the library but was met with 2 of the Droids who raised their hand in a stop motion.

"Halt."

"W-what?" Spike stuttered, caught off guard by, well, the guards orders.

"Entry to this area is currently unavailable."

"But I live here!"

"Halt." The droid simply repeated.

"Why won't you let me in?"

"We have orders not to."

"From who?"

"The Commander"

"Who?!"

"The Commander?"

"The yellow guy? Roger?"

"Uh, Yes."

Spike began to think about why the Droids wouldn't let him in when he suddenly realized something.

If the 2 Droids were there, then the other was alone, but who was he talking to?

"Who's Roger talking to?"

"I don't know"

"Can I go see?"

"No."

"Aw come on, let me through!"

"I'm not authorized to let any unauthorized persons in, and you're not authorized."

"But I live here! You're the guests!"

The Droids simply ignored him and stood in place.

Spike put his hand up to his ear and listened as best as he could.

"Well, they live in a region that is south of here, and they live in the forest where we landed, and the fit the description of the creature you described."

There was silence for a moment...

"I got the information from one who lives here who goes by Spike. I don't believe him to be a threat, he seems pretty calm."

There was more silence…

"I think their leader is called Princess Ember or something."

More silence...

"Your welcome sir, just doing my job."

"Hey Roger! Why won't they let me in!"

Spike called trying to get his attention so he'd come closer and hopefully reveal who he was speaking with.

"Uh oh, I gotta go."

OOM-340 said closing his radio chat with Kraken.

He hurried over to the doorway and ordered his guards aside.

"Hi!"

Spike stood there with a suspicious look on his face

"Who were you talking to?"

OOM-340 didn't account for Echo during his transmission. He had to think up a coverup and fast. Unfortunately, B1s are terrible at coming up with excuses.

"Uhh… nobody."

Spike, as anyone with a sliver of common sense, was unconvinced.

"So you were talking to nobody about the stuff I just told you about Dragons?"

"Uhh, yeah! That's right!"

Spike stood there, and gave him a serious look.

"I know you're up to something, we all do."

This statement hit OOM-340 hard. He thought his act was convincing.

"I didn't do anything!" He exclaimed

Twilight called from downstairs that dinner was ready.

Spike gave them the "I've got my eye on you" gesture before walking backwards down the stairs.

OOM-340 stood there for a moment before following.

This was not good…


	11. Chapter 11: Dragon Slayers

Chapter 11: Dragon Slayers

TA-175 rode an AAT escorted by 4 Stap Speeders and squads of Battle Droids through the forest. A Probe Droid had sighted the Dragon creature in the nearby area, before it was destroyed by the creature. Groups of Droids were closing in on the area to eliminate it, it would be a hinderance to them no longer.

The convoy had tracked the massive footprints left in the ground by the creature to a large cave opening.

TA-175 raised his hand to signal the troops to stop moving. He knew it would be unwise to enter the creatures lair, it would have an advantage of cover. He needed to draw it out.

"B1-654, B1-655, investigate the cave"

"Us?" They asked nervously

"Correct. There aren't any others of you here."

"R-Roger Roger!" They said in a notable scared voice.

The 2 Droids walked into the dark cave…

Inside the cave was damp and dark. Of course, that didn't bother the 2 Droids. As they entered the cave further, they began to notice the abundance of jewels and gold coins on the floor.

"What do you think there's all this for?" One asked, his voice echoing.

"Shh! Do you want to get eaten!?" Whispered the other

"Who would eat a droid? We're Metal! Most creatures like to eat other creatures!" The 1st replied, walking forwards confidently. "I bet this thing isn't even all that bi-" the droid suddenly bumped into a large, warm, scaly mass. There was a large grumble and 2 large, glowing, orange eyes opened.

"WHO DARES TO VENTURE INTO MY LAIR?!" The Dragon roared.

In a scared shaky version of their already high pitched voices, the droid simply replied

"Um… hi… sir… I'll just be going now"

The Dragon stood up

"I SHALL DEVOUR YOU FOOLS!"

The Droids ran out of the cave yelling

"WAAAAAAHHH!"

And shooting randomly into the air as they ran.

A huge wave of fire shot out of the cave as they exited and a large, red dragon stepped out.

"Open fire." TA-175 ordered.

All of the Droids and tanks opened fire on the dragon, Who's scales simply laughed off the blaster fire.

TA-175 fired his AATs main cannon at it, and hit it in the face.

The Dragon stumbled backwards, and stood up to its full height, and began stomping towards his tank, crushing several Droids under its feet as it did so.

"Recalculating…" TA-175 said as he lowered into the tank and closed the hatch.

The Dragon breathed a huge wave of fire on the tank, charring it a blackened color, and the tank dropped to the ground.

"Sir! Power converters have overheated!" Shouted the pilot droid driving the tank.

"Convert power to weapons. Fire armor piercing shells at the creature!"

"Roger Roger!"

There was a loud boom as the tanks missile tubes launched their armor piercing shells, which embedded themselves in the Dragon's legs before exploding, causing it to collapse on it's now mutilated legs.

The Dragon roared in agony and tried to hold itself up with it's from arms.

"YOU SHALL PAY!" The Dragon growled, and shot fire out in a wave, melting many nearby Droids and charring the tank further, causing the surface of its armor to heat up so much it began to glow a faint orange.

TA-175 took his chance. When the dragon breathed fire at the AAT, he fired the main cannon directly into the mouth of the Dragon, and nearly blew apart its head from the inside. The Dragon moaned and collapsed to the ground once more. Closing its eyes and letting out a final breath of smoke from its nostrils, before the great beast was still.

One of the nearby B1s walked up to it and prodded it with his Blaster, and the giant remained still as a statue. It was dead.

TA-175 held out his pad and a hologram of Kraken appeared.

"The threat has been eliminated sir. Acceptable losses."

"Excellent. If any others appear in the area eliminate them as well."

"Yes sir."

TA-175 would've very much liked to have brought the dead Dragon back to the base for examination and dissection, however the beast was just too big. It was a shame, but moving the giant corpse would've been more work than it was worth.

Twilight, Spike, OOM-340 and his guards sat at the dining room table finishing dinner. Or at least Twilight and Spike did. OOM-340 thought about what he could do to make himself less suspicious. He decided he'd be a bit more helpful.

"Can we help you with anything? To show that… we're thankful for you housing us…"

"Sure! You can take these bowls over to the sink and start cleaning them."

OOM-340 really wanted to complain. He grumbled internally.

"Thanks!" He said, in as real of a happy voice as he could attempt to fake.

It was going to be a long night.

After hours of scrubbing dishes, drying them, and putting them away, and cleaning up other things, OOM-340 was finally finished with cleaning up dinner. Except now it was 10:38 PM. He should be commanding his subordinates, not doing dishes! What was he a servant Droid? No, but he needed to keep up his act of being a "good friend" and acting non-suspicious.

"I really appreciate you helping to clean up dinner, I was able to organize a lot of my books in a better way!" Twilight said, yawning and walking upstairs upstairs, being followed by Spike a moment later.

OOM-340 sighed in relief. He was finally finished with his task, and do something else. His guards were busy too, but got done sooner than he did. They were given easier jobs like dusting and such.

He was about to go upstairs and join his guards who were already shut down, when his radio buzzed in with the familiar sound of Probe chatter.

In a chaos of maintaining his act, he'd forgotten that their recharge kits had lost their battery.

"Hello? Yes this is Unit OOM-340 reporting" he whispered

"Yes, we need more recharge kits, you can drop them off at the same spot as last time."

He walked outside to the Probe Droid who was waiting at the front door of the castle. The droid handed him 3 recharging kits, as it had last time, before suddenly reaching it with one of its claws and handing OOM-340 a Holopad.

"What am I supposed to do with this?"

The Probe chittered in its language, telling him it was unsure.

OOM-340 lugged the 3 new charging kits upstairs as quietly as possible.

He really wished he could go back to the ship. Or to something that was at least exciting, like a good battle. Not like, Jedi battles, something small and enjoyable like pirates. That was exciting!

OOM-340 plugged his comrades into their new charger kits, shoving the old ones under the guest bed, before plugging himself in and shutting down for the night again, the nice void of rest known as deactivation.

All would normally be quiet and dark in the castle, but that was not the case. In the bedroom that held Twilight and Spike in their beds, There was a quiet late night conversation and letter writing.

Twilight had just finished having Spike write the meeting acceptance letter.

"Ready to send it?" Spike asked, putting red seal with a golden stamp.

"Yep!"

Twilight walked over to go climb in bed but Spike stopped her.

"Twilight, there's… there's something I need to tell you."

"What is it Spike?"

"Remember earlier when I asked if you needed help with dinner?"

"Yes Spike, what about it?"

"When I got back up the library, the Rogers wouldn't let me!"

"What do you mean they wouldn't let you back in the library?" Twilight asked

"The Yellow Roger's two friends blocked me from entering, saying "I wasn't authorized" he said, mimicking the Droids voices.

"Weirdest part, was he was talking to himself."

"How is that weirder than them blocking you? Lots of ponies talk to themselves."

"No, he wasn't just talking to himself like some ponies do, he was having some kind of conversation, but I could only hear his side! Like he paused as if waiting for a response and everything! And when I got his attention he acted all hurried and quickly wrapped it up!"

"I think you're just overthinking this. Maybe he just wanted a little private time?"

"No Twilight, I know they're up to something, you have to believe me!"

Twilight sighed. She Didn't want to believe they were up to something, but he did have a point, that was very unusual. He wasn't just being xenophobic, he met lots of different creatures and became friends with them, like Thorax the Changeling who changed his entire race for the better.

"Of course I believe you Spike, you've helped save us and Equestria many times!" She said. "We can talk about it with Princess Celestia and Luna tomorrow, they should know what to do." With that, Twilight climbed into bed and settled down for the night.


	12. Chapter 12: Greetings Princesses!

Chapter 12: Greetings Princesses!

Morning came as it always does in Equestria, but at Fluttershy's cottage, things were not the norm.

Fluttershy's animal friends were telling her that something strange was happening in the Everfree Forest. Many of them had their homes destroyed by huge monsters, and begged of her to do something.

Fluttershy spoke with a squirrel inside her cottage over Tea with her other animals.

"Oh my! That's terrible Mrs. Nuttersworth! I can believe something would just knock down all of that just because it was in the way! You and your family can stay here as long as you need to get back on your feet." She said in her soft voice.

The squirrel and her family chittered happily and hugged Fluttershy's front leg, to which she smiled.

But what could possibly do this? She vowed to find out.

Suddenly there was a knock at her front door. She found Twilight and the rest of her friends outside.

"Good Morning Fluttershy!" Said Twilight

"Good Morning Twilight! What brings you here?"

"I just wanted you to know the Princesses are coming today to meet the Rogers, and we're all going to be there, do you want to come to?"

"Oh that would be lovely Twilight! Let me feed everyone Breakfast first and get my new guests settled in."

"Made some new friends?" Twilight asked smiling

"No, a bunch of my animal friends who live in the forest lost their homes the other night to some monster! Can you believe it?"

"What kind of monster?"

"I'm not sure, but they said it was big and tan colored, and floated in the air!"

"That's very strange, I'll have to look into it later. See you around Fluttershy!"

"Goodbye Twilight!"

Fluttershy closed the door and the group headed back to the Castle of Friendship.

Kraken waited for the meeting to begin so he could listen in over radio. He was curious as to what their leaders would be like. Would they be patient? Wise? Aggressive? Strong? Only time would tell. If the meeting went well he may arrange a meeting with them himself. In the meantime, he needed to think of what course of action to take with the Dragon creatures. Should he orbitally bombard their primary area of inhabitation? Should he attempt diplomacy?

Diplomacy seemed to be the best choice but they seemed hostile. How would he accomplish this?

Perhaps a shuttle could land some Droids and it could be accomplished holographically.

Suddenly he remembered something: OOM-340 had mentioned their leader during their chat. Perhaps she could be persuaded to join in on the meeting. He contacted OOM-340.

"Sir?"

"You mentioned a Dragon Leader known as Princess Ember?"

"Yes, the small Dragon mentioned her last night during my questioning."

"Could you attempt to have her arrive at the meeting?"

"I could talk to Twilight and see what she could do."

"Identify Twilight."

"She's the one who's been giving me and my guards shelter. She's purple, like to read, umm, and she has wings and a horn."

"Your primary orders are to introduce yourselves in a friendly way to their leaders, before introducing yourselves as ambassadors for the Confederacy Of Independent Systems. I will signal you to activate your holopad when the time is ready. Your secondary orders are to attempt to arrange a meeting with this Princess Ember." Kraken ordered "It would be beneficial to us to know the other dominant species on this planet politically."

"Roger Roger!"

The meeting had been scheduled for 10:30 AM, and things were nearly prepared. OOM-340 had requested Ember's presence to Twilight, as much as he didn't want to, and she wrote a letter inviting her to meet them. He was on edge. Sometimes he really hated his orders. He was waiting for the one to get him killed to come.

What if she finds out about the operation in the forest? What if she found out they killed a Dragon? He'd be as good as melted down!

OOM-340 and his guards sat down at wooden chairs in the room that would be used for conference. It was the room that held the map of the land, but for some reason, the table no longer displayed the land, instead it was a normal round table made of crystals.

He stared up at the ceiling, just now noticing the tree roots that hung down from it like a chandelier, which was was adorned with small glowing gemstones

"It'll be fine." He told himself.

Somehow he still had a bad feeling.

"I'll be fine." he said attempting to reassure himself one more.

Then Twilight walked into the room

"They should be arriving shortly, I hope your ready, they're very excited to meet you!" She walked up to the top balcony with her friends.

Celestia and Luna's Chariot arrived though the sky, being pulled by a team of Pegasus ponies dressed in their royal guard armor. The chariot approached the Castle of Friendship before stopping in the air at its top balcony, where Twilight and her friends were waiting. Celestia stepped out of her chariot, followed by her sister Luna.

"Greeting Princess Celestia" they all said, bowing.

Celestia chuckled

"The formality is not needed my friends, you don't have to act so formal when you see me! Relax!" She said with a smile.

"Roger and his friends… erm, Roger are waiting inside for you. Princess Ember was also invited so she may show up later." Twilight said, opening the door to lead them inside.

OOM-340 sat in his chair. He would be twiddling his thumbs anxiously, but the join restrictions in his fingers made doing so impossible. His guards seemed unphased by the events that were coming, and their attention wandered around the room, looking for any signs of trouble. Suddenly the door at the far end of the room opened up and Twilight and her friends entered, followed by 2 Alicorns. They were absolutely MASSIVE, towering over the others and the 3 Droids alike. One was a bright white color, with a blue, green, purple and pink mane and tail, and the other one was a dark blue, almost the color of the night sky with a mane and tail that was a dark purplish black, with what appeared to be twinkling stars in it. What was strange about their hair, other than it glowing almost, was that is seemed to be forever blowing in some nonexistent wind, in a sort of slow swaying motion. They all sat down and the meeting began.

"Greetings Roger, it's such a pleasure to meet you and your friends! I'm Princess Celestia, and this is my sister Luna" said the tall white one.

"We have been waiting to meet thou for some time now." Said the darker one, known as Luna in a somewhat echoing voice.

There was a brief pause and suddenly OOM-340 realized it was his turn to talk.

"Oh, um, uh, it's nice to meet you too?" He said nervously.

"So what brings you to the land of Equestria?" Asked Princess Celestia, "and what can we do to make your stay a pleasant one?"

"Well…" OOM-340 ran what questions Kraken had wanted him to ask. Friendly interaction. He quickly thought of what someone would say.

"How are you?"

"I'm doing just fine" said Celestia "how about you sister?"

"We are doing just as good as our sister. How art thou?"

OOM-340 didn't know what she meant by "How art thou". Art was a symbolic form of expression used by organics, but he didn't know what she meant by it in this case with the word Thou. He'd never seen that word before!

"Um… what?" He asked

"How art thou?" Luna repeated

"I… I don't know what that means…"

Luna facepalmed, or more accurately, facehooved.

"What my sister is asking is how are you and your friends doing? Are you well?"

Suddenly OOM-340 realized that the darker one must be speaking in an older form of dialect. One he was likely not programmed to understand.

"I'm doing… okay." He said.

"That is well!" Said Luna in response.

Yeah, definitely speaking in an older dialect.

"What do you want to talk about?"

"Could you tell us a bit about yourselves and how you came here to Equestria?" Asked Celestia

"Well, me and my… erm… partners are Droids. Particular of the B1 series, although I'm one of the OOM variants which is a predecessor to them. We were built by the corporation known as Baktoid Automata. We came here in a series of pods dropped down from a ship."

Twilight was confused

"Wait wait wait" she said " thought you said you crashed here?"

"Well… erm… crud. I was afraid to tell you…"

"Why would you be afraid?" Twilight asked "we don't judge ponies by their past, as long as they promise to be good in the future."

"Where would this ship be?" Asked Luna

"I… It's in… I'm not… I don't know." He said, shrugging his shoulders.

"If thou does not wish to tell, that is fine." Stated Luna "but we only wish to know so we can ensure the security of our land."

"we have a very peaceful society that has not seen war in thousands of years, and we wish to keep it that way" continued Celestia, smiling friendly. "We wish to know of your intentions. Ours is to keep peace as I stated, but what is yours."

"Its… the same… I guess?" He replied, growing more nervous.

There was a beeping noise coming from one of his guards hands.

"What is that sound?" Asked Luna

"Sir, it's… it's for you." The Droid said, hastily giving it to his commander.

OOM-340 sighed and took the image caster device.

He sighed "Here goes nothing."

He hit the open communication button. A Hologram of the Super Tactical Droid known as Kraken appeared, displaying partial color on its blue haze, most notably his glowing yellow eyes.

"Greetings Princesses, I am Commander Kraken of the Confederacy of Independent Systems, alternatively known as the Separatist Alliance. I have been observing your species for some time now through my subordinate." Said Kraken in his deep voice…


	13. Chapter 13: The Confederacy?

Chapter 13: The Confederacy?

Everyone was in shock at the sight and sound of Krakens hologram.

"Who art thou?!" Luna demanded

"I just said I am Kraken of the Confederacy of Independant Systems. I've been watching your species for sometime now."

Celestia stood up

"You must forgive my sister for her outburst, she can be a bit rash."

"I am not offended. Most organics are easily surprised."

Luna looked mildly insulted, but shrugged it of.

"What are your intentions?" Celestia asked

Kraken raised his hand as if to begin speaking but was interrupted when the door suddenly opened up behind the 2 and a small (by dragon standards, Blue Dragon walked in. The Dragon's scaly hide was a light blue color, and it had a long tail with a spade like shape on the end, and wings on its back. On its head it had darker blue spines and horns, and its face was long and thin at the muzzle, and it had orange-red eyes.

"Hello everyone." The Dragon said

"Identify yourself" Kraken's holographic form demanded

"Me? I'm Dragon Lord Ember, leader of the Dragons!"

Kraken accepted this, and prepared to state his intentions.

"Your Identity has been logged. As I was preparing to state before, my intentions are to rebuild my forces utilizing your planet's resources."

"Rebuild? What happened to them?" Twilight asked

"We were engaged in battle against our opponent the newly formed Galactic Empire, formerly known as the Galactic Republic."

"Engaged in battle? So you are at war?!" Twilight said in shock.

Everyone except Ember's face displayed a Look of both shock and horror.

"War is a terrible atrocity, how can one bring another to commit such actions against another living thing?" Celestia asked

"According to my programming,

"War is the most horrific and terrible act one can commit! How could you ever do such a thing to another living creature!? And why?" Celestia asked

"According to my programming, we are fighting for freedom from tyranny and oppressive government, known as the Galactic Republic. "

"But how can you bring yourself to commit such violence? Are you not fighting living beings?!"

"Negative, the lives of my enemies and those who stand in the way of freedom of the Confederacy do not matter. I am not programmed to feel pity for my enemies."

"Thats horrible!" Celestia exclaimed "how can one not feel any remorse for any death?"

"I am not programmed to feel. I am not like you."

Celestia sighed, she was beginning to see that trying to reason with this war machine to abandon its violent ways were futile. It had been build with those ideas in mind, and it was loyal to them.

"Sometimes war is necessary for one to defend their freedom and harmony…" Luna reasoned

"Yes sister, but the methods described by this machine, Kraken, are not within those parameters. They are out right atrocious and merciless." Celestia replied "They go against our very standing."

"It is our primary function, our reason for existing. It's natural for organics to go to war with one another."

"Not here!" Yelled Rainbow Dash, floating up and pointing in Krakens holographic face

"Silence! I was not finished!" Kraken ordered "Our enemy utilizes an army of replicated individuals known as Clones. They are bred for combat and are nothing more than disposable individuals. Slaves, fighting for a government they have no rights in. Even so, I have not been programmed to feel sympathy for my enemy's, if they will not surrender, they will be terminated."

"I'm sorry, but we simply cannot allow the support of acts of war here in Equestria" said Celestia. "We have maintained a state of peace and harmony for thousands of years, and we will not sacrifice it by allowing you to mine our planet's resources for such destructive purposes."

"You must cooperate, this planet is under Confederate authority now. Your planet and its resources belong to us."

"Nay! This planet is not under thou's control!" Luna shouted

"If you will not allow our operation to commence peacefully, you will be made to cooperate!"

"Art thou threatening the lives of our subjects?!" Luna yelled

"ENOUGH!" Celestia shouted in her royal canterlot voice.

The room fell silent.

"I will not support your war by allowing you to use our planet! Leave at once!"

"Negative. I do not take commands from you!" Kraken said, pointing at Celestia and Luna.

"I am Celestia, leader of Equestria and Goddess of the Sun! You will leave our planet at once before your violence taints it!"

"Negative. Our operation had already begun. If you interfere, you will be eliminated like the Dragon who already has."

"You killed a Dragon?!" Ember shouted, outraged

"That is correct," Kraken confirmed "it interfered and had to be terminated."

"You have just declared war with the Dragons!"

"And by refusing to leave peacefully, and now engaging in violence, I, Princess Celestia and my subjects must now deal with you personally to restore harmony"

"Goodbye." Kraken said simply before closing the message, leaving OOM-340 and his guards alone with the angered ponies and Dragons. He saw no point to stay around if negotiations had failed.

"Um… hi girls? I'll just be going now!" He said nervously


	14. Chapter 14: Aggressive Negotiations

Chapter 14: Aggressive Negotiations

The doors to the exit of the castle closed.

"THOU WILL NOT BE ALLOWED TO LEAVE! THOU SHALT FACE JUSTICE FOR THEIR CRIMES!" Luna shouted in the royal canterlot voice.

"I haven't even killed anyone though!" OOM-340 exclaimed. He was lying though, he had shot a few clones in his operational life, but, they were vile abominations, right? His very purpose for existing!Besides, he had orders… and they were shooting back!

The ponies and dragons entered combative positions. OOM-340 and his guards stood up, raising their blasters.

"Look, I don't want to do thi-" he began before a yellow aura surrounded his body and he began to float in the air. He looked up to see an aura of the same color surrounding Celestia's horn. He tried to aim his E-5 Blaster Rifle at her, only to discover it was not longer in his hand, instead it was on the floor.

"Guards! Help!" He cried

"Roger Roger!" His guards said, pointing their blasters at the Celestia and prepared to open fire.

And then all hell broke loose…

The 1 of Droids was knocked backwards by a blast of purple magic from Twilight. The other turned to fire at her, only to have his blaster yanked from his hand by magic.

"Surrender!" Twilight demanded

"I'm not programmed to surrender!" The Droid said and attempted picked up OOM-340s dropped blaster, only to be hit by another blast of magic, but this time it originated from Luna, and his blew his right arm clean off

"OW!" It shouted, as sparks began to spray it from its severed limb

"I'll cover you!" Said his fellow guard as it had finally stood back up

The now one-armed droid charged forward to attempt a melee attack, only to be have its head blown off by a magical shot from Twilight.

"Uh oh…" said the other Droid, moments before it met the same fate, it's decapitated body stumbling backwards firing off a few shots before collapsing.

OOM-340 was left suspended in mid-air, holding his hands up.

"Don't shoot! I'm… I'm the commander but don't shoot!

Celestia stood there a moment staring him down, before a bunch of padlocked chains, handcuffs and ankle cuffs appeared around him, retraining his movement before he was dropped to the floor.

"Ow… I can move."

Ember facepalmed

"That's the point you buckethead!"

"Hey! That's not nice!"

"Neither is shooting at ponies!" Rainbow Dash shouted "you spy!"

"Spy? I'm not a spy!" He exclaimed

"Uh, yeah you are!" Dash said "you were sent here to get information behind everypony's backs!"

"No, I'm… Okay when you put it like that I guess I am…" he admitted

They all walked up to OOM-340, who was now restrained and laying on the floor.

"Thou shalt tell us thou's secrets!" Luna demanded

"Okay alright! Just don't hurt me!"

"So "Roger", if that even is your real name, why don't you start with why you were really sent here?" Celestia said

"Well, my real designation is actually OOM-340. I'm an OOM Series Battle Droid manufactured by Baktoid Combat Automata. I was sent here by my Commander to investigate your species to see if we could make an agreement with you. That didn't work…"

"I knew it! I knew you were a spy!" Spike shouted "You were talking to that guy last night, but how?"

OOM-340 decided to play dumb.

"I don't remember."

"Stop lying!" Luna demanded

"Okay I talked over a radio!"

"Next, where are your ships?"

"In orbit somewhere I don't know!"

"Where can we find this "Kraken"?"

"On the command ship! Oh Krakens gonna scrap me…"

"Thank you for being so cooperative, now, let's get you locked up!" Twilight said, before a metal barred cage appeared around OOM-340

"Oooohhh…" he groaned "come on I can't even move!"

Kraken opened communications with the other Tactical Droids under his command, TA-175, TJ-912, and TF-1726.

"Attention, diplomacy has failed between the Confederacy and the Ponies. Ponies are to be considered hostiles. Eliminate them on sight.

"Yes sir." They all responded in unison.

"I calculate that we should orbitally bombard the Dragon Lands" suggested TA-175.

"A worthy suggestion, but I feel we should attempt to free out OOM Commander first from his imprisonment.

"He only a simple Battle Droid" responds TA-175 "he is easily replaceable. Why do you pity him?"

"It is not hom that matters, rather it is is memory. The droid contains valuable information on the Ponies and it would be wise to fully analyze his memory banks. He is also a security risk as they could potentially crack all data in his mind."

"Why not simply destroy him then?" TF-1726 replied

"I am aware of your lack of consideration for our troops" Kraken said "but we currently are cut off from resupply and it would be wise to preserve our forces. Defeating the Ponies will take… time.

"I agree with your reasoning sir." Said TJ-912

"I do not agree" said TF-1726 "I calculate it to be a waste of time. How can you still be sure he still is functional?"

"I do not care for your opinions, I am in command and I calculate a rescue operation is the best initial act. I am still reading his comm signal indicating he is still operational but he is not responding."

"What are your orders, sir?" TA-175 asked

"Prepare a strike team of Commando Droids and other units. We rescue the droid tonight."

"Yes sir."

The Mane, the Princesses and Ember all stood in a circle, discussing what the best course of action was.

"That machine, Kraken, their leader, he's a war machine, build to lead his forces in their barbaric attacks. Trying to take them head on would not be wise." Celestia began

"I could rally the Dragons to fight them, they certainly can't be fireproof if their metal." Ember added

"Are you sure you want to bring them into this?" Twilight asked "they could be killed!"

"Dragons never stand down from a challenge, besides, I'm your friend, and isn't that the sort of thing friends do?"

Luna walked into the the room.

"Sister, We have ordered a detachment of the Royal Guard here to help protect the town. We fear Ponyville may be attacked."

"Why would somepony attack Ponyville? We're just a small village!" Fluttershy squeaked

"We're all here right now, and their friend is here. If they have any sense of value for their comrade, they'll try to rescue him and take us out at the same time" Twilight said "shouldn't you two get back to Canterlot? You'll be safer there. If something happens to you, Equestria could fall!"

"We could never abandon our subjects!" Luna declared

"Luna and I are staying. We're in this together." Celestia said, with a friendly smile.

"If somepony wants to get to Ponyville, they'll have to get through us first!" Rainbow Dash said "Now who's ready to kick some robo-flank?"

"Easy there partner" Applejack said "we don't know what all their packin', they may have something much worse than just those 3."

"Applejack is right," Celestia said "no military force would use only one kind of unit. We must prepare for all they can do. Get the citizens to safety, I will oversee the preparations."

Nighttime fell in Equestria as the time came for Luna to raise the moon. A full moon shone across the land, making it a bright night. Around the edge of Ponyville, various fortifications were set up. Carts, makeshift barricades, troops and trenches were set up to keep out the Droids. Nothing would break through in one piece.

Leading the Royal Guard, Shining Armor had arrived, reporting to Princess Celestia that all was in place.

"The guard is prepared for anything those tin-cans throw at us your highness."

"Good Shining, keep an eye of for them."

"Yes your highness!"

Deep within the Everfree Forest, the Separatist Landing force prepared their assault.

TA-175 had prepared his troop choices. He decided to bring 2 Battalions of B1s as an initial charge, with a Battalion of B2s to back them up. Commando Droids would attack from the sides and attempt to sneak past their defenses. There would be support from the edge of the forest from 3 AATs, one of which would be carrying TA-175 into battle. He calculated that the probability of the operation being successful was 7/10. He would've gone full force, but he needed defense at the base and Kraken had ordered him to preserve his troops.

TA-175 stood in front of the Squad of BX-Series Commando Droids, briefing them on the their mission.

"Captain, you and your squad are to infiltrate the villages defense perimeter and free OOM-340. Return him operational if possible."

"Yes sir." The Commando Droid Captain, who had white markings distinguishing him from his black plated comrades, and a Vibrosword attached to his back.

"Sir the troops are all ready to go" an OOM Commander informed TA-175.

"Prepare to move at once" he said walking up the boarding ramp of his AAT.


	15. Chapter 15: Blast em!

Chapter 15: Blast em'!

The army of Droids advanced through the forest, eventually making it to the edge, and marching out into the moonlight.

TA-175 popped out of the hatch of his tank, and placed viewfinders up to his photoreceptors. The ponies were prepared for them alright, but he was certain that he could succeed. His calculations pointed towards victory, and his calculations were always correct.

"Open fire! Charge!" He commanded the B1s and B2s

"Roger Roger!"

The battle began…

Shots of Red Blaster Bolts and magic attacks of various colors flew across the battlefield. Droids up in the front row we're almost immediately cut down, but they kept moving forwards making advancements despite their losses.

"Hold the line!" Shiny Armor yelled, as some of the troops around him fell. 2 B1s had marched right up in front of him, he shot the one with Magic, and kicked the other, destroying them both. The battle was showing no sign of either side emerging victorious, with similar casualty numberson both sides, however the Droids were making progress and getting closer slowly…

On the edge of the town, A young Earth Pony Guard and a Unicorn Guard stood at a watch post, hearing the sounds of war. The Unicorn, who had a had a dark grey coat and silver mane, known as Shining Night, hoped that it would be over soon and he could go home to his wife and children. His partner, Little Snow, who had a white coat and mane, gazed through binoculars.

As Snow looked out through his binoculars at the edge of the Everfree Forest at Ponyville side, he could have sworn he saw white eyes in the forests brush.

"Shining! I think I see something!"

"What is it? Let me see!" He said, pulling them over with his Magic and gazing through them.

Indeed, there were white eyes watching them from the forest.

"What the…" Shining Night began when suddenly a black, thin, bipedal shape with the very same eyes popped up in front of him in the binoculars.

They both screamed, jumping back.

However, snow had been struck with some kind of blade, which sent electricity coursing through his body, as he died screaming.

The shape lunged forwards and landed on top of him, it was made of cold metal, and it gripped one of its hands around his snout, and the other around his neck and began to choke him. He kicked out his back legs and pushed it off of him, firing a bolt of magic at it.

The machine performed a very quick dodge, before pulling a black device off its back and pointing it at him with one hand. The sound of a single Blaster shot was heard, and he slumped over on the floor, dead with a precise smoldering hole in his forehead.

The Droid reached up to its temple.

"Unit-BX-34 reporting. Entrance secured."

More of the BX Commando Droids emerged from the forest, and climbed up the tower and into town, before stealthily making their way towards the Castle of Friendship...

Inside, Celestia, Luna and the Elements were watching over the Battle, ready to join at a moments notice if needed. Ember had returned home to the Dragon Lands to prepare them for the upcoming war.

"It's terrible." Twilight said, watching the conflict from the balcony. "They send their troops into die with no consideration for their lives!"

"The evil rarely ever care for the lives of others, even their own. You know that Twilight." Celestia said

Downstairs, they heard the faint sound of a loud pounding at the door.

"Coming!" Twilight said, followed by her friends downstairs. As they came to the bottom of the stairs, the door exploded open, launching shards of it everywhere. Various thin, black, mechanical figures dove in from the opening, while others dove through the glass windows.

"Get them girls!" Twilight said, scowling at them and opening her wings in a combat stance, as her friends prepared for combat, and nearby guards armed themselves, running into the fray in the hall.

Dash charged at one of the Commando Droids, and was about to hit it hard with her speeding legs, when it suddenly jumped out of the way, up and off of a wall landing behind a guard, who it quickly shot.

Two closed in on Applejack, who tried to lasso one and kick the other. The lasso quickly bound around the Droid's neck, and she tugged at it, pulling it to the ground where she stomped on its head, before bucking the other with her back legs. Her kick landed dead center on the Droid's chest, and the droid was knocked through a table into the wall. The droid had a dent in its torso, but quickly got back up and dove forwards at her again before it suddenly was surrounded by a blue aura and thrown at the wall again.

"These ruffians are tough! And terrible ugly!" Rarity said, chopping at another in a karate-like way, which it easily dodged.

The droid kicked her in the face before leaping back and firing at two guards mid air, killing them and firing at her.

"You beast!" She yelled before as she blocked its shots with her Magic.

The droid began to fire in a more randomized pattern, trying to find an opening when suddenly a pie was thrown against its face, blinding it.

"Take that silly!" Pinkie said before smashing it with a comically large hammer.

Despite the progress the girls were making, they had only killed 4, and the Droids had killed all 10 guards in the room, none of the guards even landing a hit.

"Make a break for the prisoner!" One with white markings said in a deep, menacing voice.

"Roger Roger!" The others said back in equally deep voices, several darting up the stairs.

Dash charged at the Commando Droid Captain, who like the last one, leaped out of the way. Only this time, it grabbed her mane and pulled her over its head, slamming her into the crystal floor and sending her sliding down the hall, followed by Fluttershy who it picked up and threw as well.

"You monster!" Twilight said, firing magic blasts at the Droid, who easily dodged each of them, the droid pulled its Vibrosword off its back, holding it in its left hand and its Blaster in its right, making a flying leap at Twilight, who grabbed its nearby comrade and threw it at him with her magic knocking it back towards Rarity and Applejack. Applejack threw her rope around it, hoping to to lasso it like the last one she destroyed, but it spun around, slicing the rope in half, and scoring a near decapitating strike on Rarity, missing her neck by mere centimeters, chopping off a large portion of her curly mane.

"My mane! Have you no regard for fashion!? She said, picking up various items with her Magic and throwing them at it in a rage "A LADY HAS TO BE FASHIONABLE YOU KNOW!" She screamed

The Droids partner had since gotten back up and began to engage Twilight in a Magic vs Blaster duel, neither landing a shot as both of their shots connected mid-air as it began to to walk closer. The droid kicked Twilight under her chin and knocked her back against the floor.

The droid ran in for the killing shot when suddenly a blue flash slammed into it, sending it crashing through a nearby wall.

"Thanks Rainbow!" Twilight said, picking herself up.

The group continued to fight the Droids…

Upstairs, 3 Commando Droids had gotten past the Mane 6 in combat, and and were nearing the prisoner's location. They kicked down the door, finding a room full of 8 Royal guards who they quickly dispatched with precise shots in a matter of 13 seconds. Over in the corner, in his cage sat OOM-340, bound in chains.

"Hey! A little help here?" He shouted

The Commando Droids shot the lock off the cage and dragged him out.

"Hey guys I can't mo-AAHH!" He shouted as the Droids began to shoot the padlocks off of him, leaving him standing there shaking.

"Okay… thanks?" He said all nervous when the one quickly grabbed him and began pulling him along

"I can walk! Let go!" He shouted

"Keep moving"

The group of commando Droids and OOM-340 made their way back down stairs, to where the fight was going on in the main hall. The Commando Droid Captain was sent flying over in their direction by a kick from Applejack.

"Take that! Oh, it's you…"

OOM-340 picked up a dead Commandos E-5

"Eat laser!" He shouted, letting out a barrage of laser blasts forcing her and Rarity to take cover.

"We are not here to engage, move!" The Captain yelled, pushing OOM-340 towards the exit while the other remaining commandos followed, supplying covering fire.

Suddenly, huge beams of magic rained down on the group of Droids from Princess Celestia and Princess Luna, who had seen them from on top of the castle.

The Droids quickly ran over to the tower they had climbed to get past the barricades.

OOM-340 looked down at the 15 foot drop from the top of the guard tower.

"Uh, where are we supposed to go?"

The Commando Droid Captain did not reply, and simply kicked him out the window before he and his Droids jumped out after him.

OOM-340 landed with a thud on the other side of the tower on the ground.

"You know next time…" he said weakly "just tell me to jump…"

"Get up, we need to go."

OOM-340 didn't need to be told twice, and simply ran for the forest with the Commandos following…

Shining Armor and his guards had just fended off an entire battalion of B1s, in awe at their simple and flawed strategy of "everyone march forward and shoot".

"Stay ready!" He panted "I feel they aren't done yet!"

The sound of clanking over the hill was heard...

TA-175 continued to watch the battle through his viewfinders. He activated his radio and gave it troops and update.

"Your progress is unacceptable. Push harder and wipe out the Equines. Failure is not an option."

"Sir." Called out a deep voice to the left of his tank.

It was the Commando Droid Captain, and what was left of his squad, and a shaking OOM Commanded.

The commander saluted

"OOM-340 reporting for duty sir!" It said

"Take the Commander back to bases. We will analyze his data and send it to Kraken."

"Roger Roger"

TA-175 thought of how he could potentially break through their defenses. Perhaps if they moved the tanks up into a forward position, they could annihilate he barricades and troops behind them...

"Advance." He ordered the driver, and his tank began to move forwards, followed by the other 2.

Shining and his guardsponies tried to stack up some of the destroyed droids to act as makeshift barricades to replace the ones that had been destroyed. The Royal Guard prepared quickly for the second wave, which was nearing, but this time the army was different. Instead of consisting of only the tan thin machines, it also was also made up by larger, dark grey machines who walked pointing one arm forwards.

"More of them! Get ready!"

There B1s and B2s opened fire, with the B2s cutting down many Guardsponies almost immediately.

Shining threw a spear with his magic, and it impaled through one of the B1s who stood their stunned for a moment before it was pushed out of the way by a larger B2. He threw another spear at the Droids, this time at the B2, but the spear simply bounced off the thicker armor!

He turn to his lieutenant

"Golden Heart! Get Celestia and Luna! We need them here now!"

"Sir yes sir!" The guard replied running towards the castle…


	16. Chapter 16: Failure is Unacceptable!

Chapter 16: Failure is Unacceptable!

Celestia, Luna, and Spike walked downstairs, finding the Mane 6 in a battered position with dead Commando Droid and guards around them. Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash were bruised, Rarity's Mane had been cut, Applejack had a cut on her cheek, and Twilight looked exhausted. Pinkie was really the only one who looked fine. Spike ran over to help Twilight up.

"Twilight are you ok? Twilight talk to me!"

"Ugh… Spike… what were those things?"

"I don't know"

"Some kinda special ops folk, that's what ah reckon!" Applejack said

"My poor guardsponies…" Celestia said, as she looked over her dead guards, a single tear running down her cheek. "Is everypony else okay?"

"Yeah, I think we're ok…"

"I wish I could say the same for my Mane, it's ruined!" Rarity said, crying with her mascara running down her face.

Fluttershy flew over to her friend

"There there Rarity, it'll be okay…" she said in her soft voice.

Suddenly a Guardspony rushed into the room through the doorway

"Your highnesses! You help is needed at the front!"

"Right away Lieutenant!" Celestia said, rushing toward the front with Luna.

The AATs neared the front, preparing to destroy all of the barricades with their cannons.

"Sir, we're in range." Reported the Pilot.

"Fire at will." TA-175 replied, as the tanks began to fire on the barricades and guardsponies within, blowing them apart along with nearby houses, leaving it hung but burning buildings, straw, wood, and various other debris.

Shining Armor witnessed the destruction first hand, as many of the good soldiers he knew and trained were massacred by the tanks.

"Fall back to secondary positions!" He yelled over the explosions and Blaster fire.

The remaining Guardsponies rushed out of the trenches and back towards the Market area, where they took up defenses around food carts and sales kiosks.

The Droids began to advance through the smoke of their former barricades, letting loose a massive rain of Blaster fire.

"Where the Tartarus are the Princesses?!" Shining yelled

Just then, there were 2 bright beams of magic, 1 golden and 1 blue, as Celestia and Luna arrived, and began to destroy the advancing Droids.

"The princesses have arrived! Attack!"

TA-175 sat in his tank.

"This operation is taking too long!" He shouted loudly, yet still in a monotone voice somehow, and activated his holopad

"What is the reason for the delay? You are 10 minutes behind predicted schedule!"

"Sorry sir!" The B1 replied "but there are 2 very large ponies here with huge lasers!"

"Explain!"

"They're bigger, and they have flowing hair, and-" the droid was suddenly interrupted as a huge beam of magic energy tore through his chest leaving a smoking hole all the way through.

"AWWwwwuu…" the droid said in its failing voice, before falling over dead.

TA-175 began to recalculate, they had established their primary objective, but he wanted to eliminate the weak creatures for opposing the CIS. However, the more calculations he ran accounting for the 2 larger creatures, the more the results began to point towards a failure. Failure was not acceptable! Failure did not compute! Nonetheless, he couldn't calculate anything he could do about it.

How could puny organics such as them repel an attack like this? He would have to retreat, and try again, he didn't have unlimited forces to sacrifice.

"All tanks, return to base." He began, activating his radio "withdraw forces from battle. We are pulling out. If you do not comply you will be left behind on your own."

Almost immediately, the squads of Droids that were talking towards the town turned around and began running towards the forest, followed by the tanks.

In the town square, Shining Armors Guardsponies and the Princesses had finished clearing out most of the Droids. Most had started running away, but they couldn't let them escape, and continued to throw spears and shoot magic at them.

"The Battle has been won your highness." Shining reported

"That is good captain, but that of your ponies? How many did we lose?"

"38 I think, but we took down a lot of these things."

Celestia hung her head

"That doesn't get them back. Tend to the wounded, I must speak with your sister."

"Is she ok?"

"Yes, but she and her friends were attacked by a group of elite troops who must have snuck in."

Shining cursed himself for not having tighter security at the castle. Those droids getting through was his fault, or at least he felt it was.

"Alright… I'll speak with you later your highness."

Back at the outpost in the forest, the Droids returned from their mission.

"Your failure in unacceptable." TA-175 scolded "you have all disappointed me, except you Captain"

He said, pointing to the Commando Droid Captain

"You succeeded in your assigned task. Bring OOM-340 into the briefing room for analysis."

"Roger Roger."

"All other units, seek required maintenance. I expect you all operating at 90% or greater by the next rotation."

"Roger Roger" all the Droids replied.

Walking into the briefing room, OOM-340 sat in a chair with an R5 Astromech next to him, who was handing cables and preparing to hook him up for data analysis.

"Contact Kraken" ordered TA-175.

The Astromech whistled, and extended an arm which it used to activate the Holotable, before continuing to prepare OOM-340.

"Results of Mission?" Kraken asked

"Mission partial success. OOM-340 has been retrieved, but we suffered heavy losses when they brought in their leaders. We were able to breach the first layer of barricades but were driven back."

"Acceptable. Has OOM-340's data been analyzed yet?"

"Negative, it is being worked on as we speak however."

"Good. Transmit them to me when complete."

"Hey, um, is this going to hurt?" OOM-340 asked the Astromech, which whistled in response.

"Just the first part? How much? Exactly how painfu-AGH That's my face!" He yelled as his faceplate and upper head paneling was pulled off, exposing the circuits and electronics within.

The Astromech hooked the cabling up into the OOM-340's "brain" and began to extract the data. A nearby computer began to display various images, locations and information at an incredible speed, so fastthat no human would be able to read or understand any of it, but for Tactical Droids like TA-175, this was normal reading speed. Among the images displayed were some of standard things you'd expect a Battle Droid to have, such as its own blueprints, programming, a diagram of an E-5, assembler information, ID tag, and battle memories. However, as the memories began to become more recent, newer images and events appeared. The landing in Equestria, Meeting the Mane 6, The various other creatures it logged, its social interactions, the Equestrian Alphabet, and of course, the meeting with the Princesses."

But what particularly interested the Tactical Droids were the image of the Cutie Map, which gave a highly detailed image of the landscape, and its locations in better detail than could be seen from orbit.

Suddenly the Screen flashed with a message saying "End of memory log. What do you wish to do?" With the options below stated as

-Copy to external drive (drive present)

-Transfer Files

-Erase Memory

TA-175 walked over to the terminal, pressing the first option, to begin copying and transferring the files to Kraken, allowing OOM-340 to maintain his memory banks.

A nearby slot opened up, and a storage drive extended out of it, which TA-175 grabbed and placed into the holotable, transferring it to Kraken.

"Thank you. That is all I require for now." Kraken said, before his hologram faded from view.

The Astromech began disconnecting OOM-340 and reassembling his face as TA-175 walked out of the room. He had another Battle calculation to prepare given his new data.


	17. Chapter 17: Preparations

Chapter 17: Preparations

Celestia walked into the Castle of Friendship, and upstairs to the meeting room with the Mane 6, where they had the meeting before with the Droids. There were more dead guards, killed by the Droids.

"It's terrible, not only have they killed so many of our ponies, but the prisoner escaped as well!" Twilight exclaimed

"Yes my dear, I know." Celestia replied "We tried to stop them, but they were very skilled and dodged all our magic"

"What can we do now?" Twilight asked, looking to her former mentor for guidance.

"We must learn from this attack, and strengthen. Like my pet Phoenix, Philomena, we will rise from the ashes stronger and renewed." Celestia said

Twilight felt better, Celestia always had a way with words that made her feel better.

"What better way to rise from the ashes than with fire?" came a voice from the doorway.

They all turned to see Princess Ember, wearing her Battle armor, holding her staff.

"Princess Ember!" The Mane 6 exclaimed, swallowing her in a group hug

"Hey! Easy! I don't like hugs, remember?" Ember said, mildly annoyed

"Sorry…" Twilight said "it's just good to see a friend after today!"

"What all happened? I heard about the attack but what happened?" Ember asked

"The Droids launched an attack on Ponyville and managed to break out defenses until my sister and I joined the battle" Celestia said "the prisoner also escaped with help from some kind of elite force."

"Any idea yet on how these things work?" Ember asked

"Not yet, I have my best ponies working on the 2 from the fight earlier, trying to figure out their inner workings. They have a lot of circuitry and mechanical parts, one of the most intricate things I've ever seen." Celestia said.

"Well, are they fireproof?" Ember asked "because that's all I need to know for my plan to be successful" she said with a smug grin…

Kraken stood at the holotable, overlooking the acquired map of Equestria inquisitively, while TJ-912, TF-1726, whom had been called over to aid in the analysis, did the same.

"I calculate that this location on the map is the capital of this planet." Kraken said, pointing a finger at the image of Canterlot.

"What makes you certain of this?" TJ-912 asked

"The location is situated in the center of the continent, which would make it safe from forces invading from the sea. The location also appears to have been built on a mountainside, with only 1 path leading to it, which would make it easier to defend and give a wide view of the surrounding land." Kraken explained

"Excellent analysis. What are your current orders, sir?"

"I want you two to prepare an orbital bombardment of this region with your ships." Kraken said, pointing a finger towards the Dragon Lands. "The dragon species poses a high threat to our forces and it would be a wise strategic move to eliminate them swiftly."

"By your command." The two Tactical Droids said, departing to return to their assigned ships.

Kraken returned to analyzing the map.

"Plans to create. Wars to win." He said…

"Just what is your plan?" Twilight asked Ember.

"Well, I was planning on taking an army of my fiercest dragons to their base… except I don't know where it is."

"When the Droids began to retreat they marched back into the Everfree Forest, it's highly likely they have some kind of setup there." Celestia suggested

"I'll bet on that. If we worked together, we could take them out more easily with less losses. Isn't that what friends do?" Ember asked

"Wait! Now may not be the best time for attack! We know very little about its defenses, they could have many more troops there."

"Whatever those bucket heads are packing, I'm sure they'll be crushed by my Dragons." Ember said confidently

"If you choose to attack them, I cannot stop you." Celestia said.

"Think about it, if we all work together they'll be overwhelmed! Dragons and Ponies together would be unstoppable! Ember said, trying to convince Celestia to attack with her.

"I think she has a point." Dash said "if we attack together, we can take them down faster than a bullet! And believe me, I know all about speed." She said, smirking cockily and placing a hoof to her chest.

"Ah agree, if we don't deal with em' now, they could land a bigger force, and then we'll have ah bigger problem."

Celestia thought for a moment. This was a large risk, and there was a large possibility for failure, and Ponies getting hurt, or worse.

We agree with them, sister." Luna said, walking into the room and standing next to her sister. "We believe 'tis wise to smite them together and quickly, like a fire that yearns to consume a forest. "

Celestia looked up, and they all smiled, hoping she would help end the conflict quickly.

"Alright my ponies, I just hope that this is the right call. Now if you'll excuse me, I must retire for the night." With that, Celestia walked out of the room and towards a guest room, followed by 4 royal guards.

"I think we should all, be getting to bed." Twilight said, following her out the room, towards her bedroom.

TJ-912's Recusant Class Destroyer angled itself into a bombardment position, along with TF-1726's Munificent Class Frigate as they moved towards the Dragon Lands from orbit, their cannons all swiveling downwards, prepared to rain down hell and fire upon the already volcanic landscape below.

TJ-912 stood on the bridge, walking around making sure all preparations were in place. This would be a fine example of the Confederacy's might, and would crush the moral of their opponents.

Her communications panel chimed in, and he activated the display to be greeted with familiar sight of her superior, Kraken.

"Are the preparations finished?" Kraken asked

"Yes sir, our ships are nearly in position." She replied.

"Excellent. Begin charging your cannons to maximum capacity. I want that region of the planet to be nothing more than a blackened crater of ash and debris."

"Yes sir," she said, ordering her troops to begin charging their Turbolasers. "The wait for the Turbolasers to reach maximum bombardment efficiently will be about 1 hour. We will also need to devote power from shields to maintain firing."

"Acceptable. I will signal you when I wish for you to fire."

"I will wait for your order." She said, closing the transmission, and continued staring out the window.


	18. Chapter 18: Rain of Fire

Chapter 18: Rain of Fire

Morning came again in Equestria as Celestia raised the sun over the land, but all was no longer peaceful. Battle was coming, and it would be brutal. The Elements of Harmony all gathered around, making sure they all had their equipment ready to go.

"Everypony almost ready to go?" Twilight asked, triple checking her checklist to make sure she had everything ready, and adjusting her Elemental tiara on her head.

"Just about dear, I managed to salvage my mane after what those hooligans did to it." Rarity said, walking out of the bathroom with a shorter, yet still curly and well kept mane.

"I knew there was always something fishy about those guys." Rainbow Dash said, performing a quick workout to prepare for battle.

"I can't believe that they would do something like that, they seemed so nice!" Fluttershy said, with a Look of sadness on her face.

"They were just taking advantage of us Fluttershy" Dash replied, stretching.

Ember walked into the room, clad in her Battle armor from last night.

"So, you ponies about ready yet?"

"Yep!" Twilight said, crossing off the last thing on her checklist "let's report outside girls!"

"What about me Twilight?" Spike asked

"Oh Spike, you're too young to be going into a fight like this! I think it's best if you stay here."

"Come on, I can handle myself!"

"No, Spike, I know you can handle yourself, but I don't think you can handle them!"

"Let Spike come along" Ember said "he's a tough little guy, if he could make it through the Gauntlet of Fire, he can make it through whatever those bucket-o-bolts can throw at him!"

Twilight knew she was right. She couldn't baby Spike forever, and he was tough when he needed to be.

"Alright." She sighed "you can come."

"Aw yeah!" He shouted, high-fiving Ember.

They were greeted by Celestia and Luna walking over to them, with Shining Armor by their side.

"Take care sis, we'll be right alongside you" Shining said, hugging Twilight

"The time for the battle nears." Celestia said "we will restore harmony to our land, utilizing the Elements of Harmony to bring down our foes. Remember what I have taught you all." She said, smiling and walking off with her sister.

"The time to act has come" she said.

TJ-912 stood on the bridge of her Destroyer, ready for her orders to blast the Dragon's home to smithereens. It had been 4 hours, but Kraken had not given the order yet. Perhaps he wanted them to wait for the sun to rise, so that all could see it. He was smart, and knew that moral played an important role in organic troops, and viewing this destruction would surely diminish it.

Suddenly the message came to her via hologram from Kraken.

"TJ-912, TF-1726, the time for action has arrived" he began, speaking to both Tactical Droids at once via a 3 way transmission. "Initiate orbital bombardment."

"Yes Commander." She said walking forwards to the front of the bridge, standing beside a B1 gunner sitting in his chair.

"Open fire." She said coldly, sounding as though she would be smiling sinisterly if she could move her face, and pointing an arm at the planet below.

"Roger Roger!"

There was the loud cry as the Recusant's and Munificent's Turbolaser batteries opened fire, letting loose a rain of red lasers, unleashing hell on the planet below. TJ-912 simply stared at the magnificent sight as the lasers began to impact the planet surface below.

There was a huge, red glow coming from the sky in the Dragon lands, as thousands of dragons looked to the cloudy sky, trying to figure out what the bright lights origin was, before millions upon millions of red raindrops pelted the surface and dragons around them, killing some younger and weaker dragons, wounding others, and merely annoying the large ones. The ground shook as rockslides and earthquakes ravaged the ground, and volcanos erupted, filling the air with ash. Large Dragon who were not killed by the turbolasers were crushed beneath falling rocks or suffocated by ash. Doom had fallen upon most of the Dragon Population.

In Ponyville, the Princesses, Mane 6 and Ember all watched in horror as the bombardment came down on the dragon lands. Embers shock soon turned to pure anger and rage.

"Those cans will pay for this!" She roared

Twilight stepped up

"Wait! It's too dangerous!" She said as Ember took off towards the Dragon Lands.

Ember knew the likelihood of the Dragon population being unaffected was unlikely, but she had to be there for her people, even though caring wasn't a very Dragon-like thing. She'd make those bots pay for this destruction, if she had to tear every last one apart with her bare claws. As she neared the Dragon lands, the heat began to increase, and ash filled the air making breathing difficult, but she did not care. She was looking for one Dragon in particular: her father, Torch. Dead dragons were everywhere, with some managing to rise from the smoke battered but alive.

"Where's my father!" Ember demanded

"I don't know my lord!" Came an almost unanimous answer from the surviving dragons, who made their way past her to clear air.

Ember searched every chasm and cave through the Dragon lands, searching for her father. It was hours before she found him, crushed beneath a massive landslide. Ember got down on her knees and cried as she mourned her father…

On board the Providence Class Carrier 'Enforcement', Kraken gazed down at the destruction with his 3 yellow photoreceptors, pleased with the results. Large areas of what was the Dragon lands had been reduced to massive craters and glowing areas of melted rock, and that was all that could be seen through the ash from orbit. His scans confirmed there were survivors, but he had depleted enough of their numbers to make them a minor threat. He sat in his command chair and contacted his two Tactical Droids TF-1726 and TJ-912.

"Excellent work. Return your ships to their previous positions. We have won this round." He said, his voice having a notable sense of pride in it.

Today was a good day for the Confederacy.


	19. Chapter 19: Equestria Strikes Back

Chapter 19: Equestria Strikes Back

(Not an intention Empire Strike Back reference)

Twilight was at a loss for words, as were her friends. They had never witnessed such destruction, which they knew was worse than anything Equestria had ever seen, even from hundreds of miles away.

"Well… now what?" Asked Spike

"We fight back." Celestia said

"How can we fight against that?!" Twilight said, beginning to lose her calm, rational demeanor.

"I know things look bleak, but we will make it through this my little ponies" Celestia said, attempting to console her student "you are the Elements of Harmony, and we can defeat any foe if we work together to restore harmony"

Shining Armor joined in on the conversation

"And the Royal Guards are no pushovers either sis, we'll scrap those things!"

Twilight felt a little better, but was still worried about the future. This conflict would be brutal, and Equestria would never be the same.

"So," she began "where do we start?"

The Mane 6, the Princesses and the royal guards finest strategists gathered around the table, with Ember who had returned with her fiercest surviving dragon warriors who waited outside.

"Twilight, would you do the honors of starting the briefing?" Celestia said, placing her wing around her student.

"Well… we know they have their camp set up somewhere within the Everfree Forest, likely around this area" Twilight said, gesturing to it on the map, where a cartoony icon of a Battle Droid head appeared "we don't know what various kinds of troops get will have, but most likely it will be similar to what they attacked Ponyville with."

"I will lead my dragons in from the air to take down their more heavy defenses" Ember said, drawing a line through the air toward their base icon with her staff.

"Very good" Shining Armor said "my ponies will advance through the forest, with me leading them in his assault."

"While you 2 have them distracted, the Elements, my sister and I will take an alternate path around to their base, and attempt to capture their leaders." Celestia said

"Do we even know what their leader there looks like?" Twilight asked

"No, but I'd imagine he looks different than the others, probably has special markings, like the yellow one we had captured." Celestia replied "are there any other questions or objections about the battle plan?"

"No your highness!" Said all the guards.

"Excellent, now let's get a move on!"

TA-175 was command center, sitting in his chair monitoring the different feeds from scouts and security systems. One particularly caught his attention, one of a Viper Recon Droid situated on the edge of the Everfree Forest. From its tree perch it could see a large number of guards ponies dressed in their golden-roman like armor, with blue plumes on their helmets, and dragons gathering around Ponyville, with groups of the ponies advancing into the Everfree Forest.

TA-175 walked close to the monitor and activated he audio feed. He couldn't make out much, but he did hear the voice of a stallion clad in similar armor, except colored purple with golden highlights shout out "all right, move out!"

TA-175 immediately spun around to face his OOM Commander Assistant.

"Prepare for their immediate ground assault. All troops to battle positions, deploy garrisons!" He demanded, pointing his finger at the Droid

"Roger Roger!" The droid complied, running off to complete its assigned task.

TA-175 contacted Kraken on his holopad

"Sir, the Equestrian Military force is launching an assault on our outpost."

"Ensure the base does not fall. Avoid capture at all costs. What is the status of base defenses?" Kraken replied

"Our AATs are in position around the base, with several legions of Battle Droid positioned around the perimeter. We also have Dwarf Spider Droids dug in defensive positions to provide covering fire, and Crab Droids to support our forces." He reported proudly

"What units does the enemy force contain?" Kraken asked, wanting to check subordinates calculations.

"Unknown entirely, but probes report that they are consisting primarily of armored guards Ponies supported by Dragons, I calculate around 270 Ponies and 7 large Dragons supported by 13 medium sized Dragons."

"What are your methods for countering with the Dragons?"

"Our AAT are equipped with armor piercing cells and bunker buster shells to penetrate the creature's scales and destroy them. I calculate that they will be unable to survive them, like the last one we eliminated, sir."

"AATs are unable to attack airborne forces, I would suggest aerial support. I have 2 Squadrons of Vulture Droids and 3 Hyena Bombers prepared for flight."

"I will request them if needed"

"Understood. Do not fail." Kraken reminded him, closing the message.

He did not need to be reminded not to fail. The whole reason why he was there was to ensure there was no failure, as the Droids under his command were too incompetent to be able to create successful strategies. There would be no failure. Not this time. He would make sure of it.


	20. Chapter 20: Battle of the Everfree

Chapter 20: Battle of the Everfree

OOM-340 stood behind the makeshift wooden barricades in the Everfree Forest that he had been set up with. His squad consisted of 15 B1s, 8 B2s, and 1 Dwarf Spider Droid. A large lion-like beast with a scorpion tail had attempted to attack them earlier, but it was quickly blasted down by the Dwarf Spider Droid.

He peered out into the forest with his electrobinoculars, but they were almost worthless due to the tree cover. He passed them to a nearby B1.

"Can you see anything?" He asked.

"Nothing yet sir. Wait… no. Oh wait yeah! I think I see things moving in the distance!"

"What do you mean?"

"I see dark shapes moving!" The Droid said vaguely

"Give me those!" he demanded, reaching for the viewfinders

"But you just gave them to me!" The Droid replied

"Quiet let me see!" OOM-340 ordered, placing the electrobinoculars up to his photoreceptors.

The droid was right, he could see 4 legged shapes with heads to large for their bodies. As they came closer he could finally see them clearly… ponies in full armor.

"Open fire!" He called

Immediately the cry of Blaster fire filled the air as red lasers and magic blasts flew back and forth between the sides…

Shining Armor trotted through the Everfree Forest, with his fellow ponies behind him. It grew darker the farther they journeyed, but they could see once their eyes adjusted.

Shining raised his hoof, signaling everyone to stop. Up ahead there was a large squad of Battle Droids, all standing with their blasters ready, with a larger Droid behind them. It had 5 red glowing eyes, two stalk-like eyes that attacked to the body like antennae, and 3 on the front of its red body, with a 2 tubes emerging from the bottom of the body, and it stood on 6 large red legs low on the ground, making it vaguely shaped like a crab.

"What the hay is that thing sir?" A nearby Guard whispered

"Can it Private" he responded "we don't want to be spotted. Split up, we'll flank them from both sides.

The squads split and advanced up the side treelines.

Shining gave signals to fire, and the B1s standing out in the open were quickly cut down by magic.

"Advance!" Shining yelled, and his troops emerged from the brush on either side of the clearing. All the B1s had been taken down by this point, leaving the large crab-like Droid.

The droid however was intent on not going down without a fight. The droid let loose a stream of laser fire from its belly cannon, cutting down many Guardsponies, and grievously wounding others as it advanced towards Shining.

"Concentrate Magic on its cannons! Get behind it!" Shining ordered, and his ponies began to fire at its belly cannon while flanking it from all sides. The Crab Droid tightened its legs together with its body, as if attempting to hide its weaker underbelly, before it suddenly leap forwards at shining and his ponies, crushing several beneath it's metal feet. Shining was able to raise a shield around himself just in time to avoid being crushed. The machine stood on top of his shield attempting to smash away at his protective bubble with its front legs. Suddenly a Pegasus Guardspony flew up onto its back and smashing at its eyestalks, causing the droid to stumble backwards, rearing on its hind legs attempting to shake off the unwanted rider, to little avail. The Pegasus continued to smash away at its hull Armor, denting and causing several plates to fly off exposing the circuitry inside. Shining took the chance and fired a beam directly into the opening in its body, melting its mechanical inner workings. The droid stumbled and collapsed onto the ground letting out a final grumble of resistance before its eyes flickered out, and its hull began to smoke.

Shining let out a deep breath. Whatever that thing was, it was dead now. He glanced over at what was left of his platoon. He'd lost 13 ponies to this machine alone. He kicked at it angrily with his leg.

"Piece of scrap!" He shouted "you cost me the lives of ponies I trusted, ponies who trusted me to lead them safely!"

Shining stood there for a moment longer before giving the order to form up and move again. The Princesses needed their distraction.

The Princesses and the Elements were having considerable less trouble. They had only run into a small patrol of 3 Droids who sat at a mobile command post in a clearing.

"Do we take them out or sneak past?"

Twilight asked.

"Normally I would say sneak past, but these beings are evil, and we must punish them as such." Celestia responded

"So should we rush them?"

"No Twilight, they may be able to get a signal out of our presence then."

"What do we do then?"

"We distract them and take them out all at once."

B1-68006 stood at his post with 2 of his buddies.

"This is boring, nothing's out there!" He groaned

"I know! I'd rather be in the front lines! That's atleast exciting!" His friend said. Suddenly a small rock flew or of the woods and landed in the ground beside them, followed by another a few seconds later.

"Huh?" The one Droid said, moving to pick it up, only for it to be surrounded by a golden aura and roll back towards the forest.

"Come back!" The shouted, running after it.

B1-68006 stood at his post with his friend.

The first Droid had taken the bait. Immediacy after stepping into the brush it was tackled by Applejack and quickly dealt with.

Back in the clearing, another rock rolled out on the other side of the clearing, before being surrounded by a blue aura and rolling back into the forest.

"Hey…" said the other Droid wandering to go find it, and immediately after stepping to the clearing, was decapitated by a swift kick from Princess Luna.

B1-68006 stood alone at his post.

Suddenly he felt a tap in his shoulder. He turned around and saw a pink pony with a messy mane and tail behind him with a massive smile on her face.

"Hi!" She said in an energetic voice

He stumbled backwards and out of the command center, falling in his back, His final thoughts were simply confusion before he was suddenly being crushed by the same comically large hammer Pinkie used to crush the Commando Droid, again pulling it from seemingly nowhere.

The ponies all came out from their hiding spaces and followed the empty path behind the former guards post, a path that should logically lead to their base...

TA-175 stood at his holotable, surveying the battle as it was playing out. He predicted the locations and paths of the Ponies armies, and had arranged his defenses accordingly, to near pinpoint accuracy. There were 3 main columns of ponies moving through the forest, and they were headed for the base. All 3 of the outer defenses had fallen, but they were of little importance. Their purpose was simply to alert him to enemy presence, which they did. Everything was playing into his mechanical palm except for the Dragons, as he was not sure where they were. None had been reported.

A loud roar was heard outside…

None had been reported until just then, as several alerts flashed on his monitors.

He tapped on a data pad, and the projection changed to that of the base. 7 large Dragons and the 13 medium sized Dragons had landed from the air, being led by a small blue dragon wearing Golden armor, and had begun to wreak havoc on his inner defenses.

"Recalculating…" he said to himself, a hint of annoyance in his voice as he pressed several buttons on a terminal.

Outside, battalions of B1s and B2s opened fire on the giant beasts, to little effect. AATs fired their shots at the large Dragons, managing to kill 3 with their armor piercing shells and bunker buster shells. However, one of the Dragons scales were just too thick, and the shells simply bounced off the Dragon, who swept 2 AATs aside with a with simple whip of his tail and crushed another beneath his clawed foot. Dwarf Spider Droids emerged from their trenches and began firing on the Dragons, attempting to score lucky shots in their eyes, it was total chaos for both sides.

Ember smashed a B1 with a strike from her staff

"PUSH FORWARDS! REMEMBER THE DRAGON LANDS!" She shouted as he Dragons began to push onwards…

Far above the planet in orbit, the Carrier 'Enforcement's' hanger doors opened, and from the ceiling dropped 14 Vulture Droids who landed with loud metallic thuds on the floor, as they activated, their eye lits glowing a bright red. Severallarger Hyena Class Bombers awakened from their slumber next to them with a evil mechanical laugh, which their name came from. They all transformed into their flight modes and departed from the hanger, as huge swarm of death. Their orders were simple: Defend the Everfree Forest Base from Dragons at all costs…

Things were going well for Ember's forces, as she had only lost 3 giants with 4 smaller warriors. Then came loud sound from the sky above. Ember looked up to see a huge swarm of mechanical creatures speeding down towards her and her Dragons. She hardly had a moment to take in the sight and find cover before a vast amount of lasers and bombs exploded on the ground around her, with the bombs taking out 3 other giant dragons and killing nearly all other smaller Dragon warriors.

The droid fighters pulled up from their dove bomb at the last moment before they hit the ground in maneuver that would be fatal to most pilots due to overwhelming G forces.

Her whole attack plan had gone to Tartarus!

"Find cover!" She yelled, smashing another droid with her staff "defend yourselves as long as you can!"

"Yes my lord!" Shouted another dragon warrior, moments before he was blown apart by a bomb launched by a Hyena Bomber.

She didn't become Dragon Lord for this...

Back at OOM-340s position, Magic and laser shots darted back and forth across the battlefield.

OOM-340 ducked behind a log with several of his other troops, as they would periodically stick their heads up to return fire.

There were a lot of ponies, but OOM-340 believed he had the upper hand. He and his forces were positioned on a higher ridge with tree cover around them. Now the area in front was littered with Guardspony corpses and destroyed Battle Droids alike.

Suddenly there was a loud boom, and a cannon ball smashed though the barricade next to him, taking the 2 Droids behind them with it.

"Oh no…" he said, peeking up to see the ponies had brought in cannons to breach their defenses.

"Hey you," he said, pointing at the Dwarf Spider Droid

The Spider Droid squawked back and tilted its head like a giant robot puppy almost.

"Concentrate fire on the cannons!"

The Spore Droid squawked in reply, and began to fire its cannon at the Equestrian Artillery, blowing them away.

"Good shot boy!" He praised

Suddenly a cannon ball flew directly into the Dwarf Spider Droids domed head, denting it and cracking one of its large red eyes before bouncing off. The droid's eyes flicked for a moment and it collapsed on the ground, as if wanting to give out, before it stood up and released a rapid fire burst from its cannon on the attacking Pony forces, killing many of them and destroying their remaining artillery, as well as destroying many trees and plants in fiery explosions.

"Holy…" OOM-340 said, gazing through is electrobinoculars once more at the destruction.

Suddenly 3 ponies popped up form behind cover and launched a spear at OOM-340 and the 2 remaining B1s next to him with their magic. The Dwarf Spider Droid swiveled its head and blasted the ponies into bits and pieces, but was too late. OOM-340 felt a sharp jab in his abdomen and lowered his electrobinoculars.

A spear had impeded itself in his abdomen, deep enough that the head was no longer visible.

"Ugh…" he managed to utter before he fell over on his side as his leg connections gave out.

"Nooo…" groaned. "But I don't… I don't wanna shut down…" he whimpered in his high pitched voice as he felt the simulated, but still very real pain. He turned his head to his comrades. He'd been the lucky one of the 3. One had it embedded directly where his head connected, which severed his neck and head, and the other had it producing from his back through his chest, a complete impalement.

He reached his hand up to his radio on his head as he dragged himself against a tree.

"This is OOM-340. Area is secure but… I need repairs immediately"!

He was met with the voice of B1.

"Were sorry sir, but we cannot help you at the moment. Things are… not under control here. Can you move? I have order for you to return to base ASAP."

He glanced down at his legs and tried to move them, only for sparks to spray out of his "wound".

"Umm… no. My legs are damaged."

"Are there any other survivors nearby who could carry you?"

He glanced over what was left of his unit. 2 B1s, one missing an arm, a single B2 with holes in his armor, and the Dwarf Spider Droid.

"Oh you've gotta be kidding me!" He grumbled, as he ordered the B1s over to him.

"What can we do s-sir?" The one missing an arm said in a glitchy voice.

"I need help. Can you try to pull this… thing out of me?"

"Roger Roger!"

The 2 B1s sat down and placed their hands on the spear

"Ok… pull- AHH!"

He said as they tugged quickly at the spear, wrenching it free of his abdomen.

"Owwwww…" he said, and he felt the pain of them pulling it out "how do I look down there" he asked

One of the Droids bent down and looked into his abdomen.

"I see a lot of wires, and circuits, aaand a hole."

"How bad is the damage?!" He shouted.

"Oh. Um… do you want me to try and twist some of the wires back together? Or leave them the way it is?"

OOM-340 groaned. "Of course I want your to fix it!"

The droid began twisting different wires together, suddenly being kicked by OOM-340

"Ow! Watch it!"

"You connected it! Don't have schematics for what does where?"

"Um, no sir."

OOM-340 was really getting tired of his subordinates idiocy. This must have been a B1 whose programming was very simple, and still somehow corrupted, at least he was an upgraded OOM series. He had better memory and programming, and thank the maker they had fixed the control signal issue and he could now think independently.

The B1 continued to twist around with the wires until suddenly OOM-340 regained some feeling in his legs.

"Stop!" Shouted "I think I can walk now."

He stood up wobbly and took a few steps. He looked like a tan skeletal infant learning to walk. His legs weren't working perfectly, but at least he could walk. Besides, he didn't want some idiot screwing around with his wiring any more than needed.

"Alright let's go." He said, picking up his E-5 and Electrobinoculars "command wants us back at base"

With that, he and his remaining squad mates set off for the outpost...


	21. Chapter 21: We Require Reinforcements

Chapter 21: We Require Reinforcements

Shining Armor led his army through the forest closer to the base's perimeter. The sounds of Battle were all around them in the forest now, as they approached another encampment. These droids had dug in trenches, and had a foxhole behind it with a large, 4 legged droid, which had a grey dome like head, 2 large red eyes, 2 small red eyes, and a long beak-like tube; or as anyone from the Clone Wars would call it, a Dwarf Spider Droid.

Shining raised his hoof to signal them them stop. He tried to think about what the best attack strategy would be. He rubbed his chin. Maybe they could have unicorns in the lead deploy magic shields and have ponies behind them throw spears? No, there was no guarantee that they would hurt that larger Droid. Maybe they could launch a large rock at the droid with a catapult? No, a lugging a catapult through this terrain would be impossible. Maybe they could pull down trees on them and first the droid, and then while the others were distracted, take them by surprise!

Shining turned to his troops

"Okay, I think I have a plan. Steel Stud, Star Mane, I want you to take up positions behind that large tree on the right. Sapphire Spirit, Comet Ice, I want you to do the same behind that large tree on the left. When I give the signal, use your magic to pull the trees down on the big robot." He turned to face a Unicorn with a Bow and Arrow "Marble Arrow, when they are distracted, take out the yellow one, he seems to be in charge. Then we'll rush the remaining ones while they are in disarray. Understood?"

They nodded

"What's the signal?" Star Mane asked

"I'll whistle a bird call, now go soldiers!"

Within a minute the ponies were all in position.

Shining nodded to his troops and gave out a whistle.

The Droids payed no attention to this, but that they did pay attention to was the 2 large trees that fell down on the Dwarf Spider Droid and crushed it.

""What the?!" Began the Commander Battle Droid before an arrow shot through his head and pinned him against the tree.

"Attack!" Shining yelled, as he and his ponies charged in taking down the remaining B1s with ease.

"Good work everyone! Now let's get movi-" he was cut off by a sudden Blaster shot that went clear through a nearby soldier's head. "SNIPER! GET DOWN!" He yelled, as his guards took up positions behind the downed trees.

Shining retrieved his telescope and glanced through it from a small gap in the tree. There was a sniper there all right, a BX-Series Commando Droid had taken up position in tree up ahead. He would've been almost impossible to see were it not for his white glowing eyes.

Of course, now that they knew where he was, he would be easy to deal with.

Shining reached out with his Magic and concentrated. A purple aura appeared around the Droids weapon, and it was yanked from the tree, along with the droid holding it.

The droid landed the fall, doing a roll and stopping in a crouched position, and pulled a long shiny blade off its back before lunging at Shining Armor. Shining barely had enough time to summon a magic sword of his own, and the two engaged in a short duel before a nearby pony stabbed it through its back with a spear.

"Thanks."

Shining said, as he stored away his sword and continued walking forwards with his army.

The Princesses and the Mane 6 rounded a corner on the trail, nearing an entrance to the base clearing and coming to meet 2 Dwarf Spider Droid who they destroyed with beams of Magic quickly.

"There it is girls! Let's get into their command center!" Twilight said, as she glanced over at the ongoing battle between the Dragons and Droid Army. "And quickly!"

The hurried out of the clearing, only to be met with the sound of many blasters being primed and aimed.

They stopped dead in their tracks and turned to see a large battalion of B1s and B2s, with 2 large hovering brown vehicles (MTTs) behind them.

Celestia stepped up to the Commander Battle Droid who was in charge of the platoon in front, and spread her wings to their full wingspan.

"I AM PRINCESS CELESTIA, RULER OF EQUESTRIA FOR THOUSANDS OF YEARS AND I ORDER YOU TO STAND DOWN AND BRING US TO YOUR LEADER!" She said, in a thundering boom utilizing The Royal Canterlot Voice.

The droid who she towered over, moved his head as if considering his options

The droid then shouted a simple, typical response

"Blast em'!"

"So much for diplomacy, sister." Luna joked as they began to deflect the incoming barrage of Blaster fire.

TA-175 stood at a terminal monitoring the fight against the Dragons, when his R5 Astromech assistant rolled up and whistled at him in alarm.

"The Princesses have arrived at the base? Explain."

The droid beeped that they were at the rear of the base and engaging their garrison.

"Does not compute! Rear positions were secured! Contact Kraken, we require re-enforcements, activate my guards."

The Astromech beeped an affirmative, and rolled off to complete its assigned task.

TA-175, although he wasn't programmed to feel worry, was beginning to feel a bit of dread, of failure, and FAILURE DOES NOT COMPUTE!

The Droid returned being followed by B1 8 Security Droids and 4 Droidekas, and projected a hologram of Kraken.

"TA-175, report the status of the Battle?"

"The Equine's leaders have breached our rear defenses, and have engaged our garrison. We require re-enforcements immediately if we are to succeed." He replied, with much regret in his voice.

"Re-enforcements will take time to prepare. In approximately 25 minutes I can have a landing craft deliver more Droids."

"The Battle situation is untenable, we will not be able to repel them for that long. I have failed."

"This is unfortunate, withdraw yourself and your forces from Battle, we will deploy pre-built command outposts around Equestria and seize it from the edges inwards."

"By your command" TA-175 responded and the transmission closed. He turned to a nearby OOM Pilot Droid "start my ship"

"Start your shit?" The droid asked, obviously mishearing his order

"No. My ship. Prepare my Shuttle for immediate departure."

"Oh, sorry! Uh, Roger Roger!" Droid said running off with its partner to prepare the Sheathipede Class Shuttle they had docked for emergency purposes.

TA-175 turned to face his security forces.

"I want 2 B1s and a Droidekas to remain here with me, and the rest of you to engage the enemy for as long as possible.

"Roger Roger!"

OOM-340 finally made it back to the base with his squad mates, and just about had sensory overload. There were dead droids everywhere, and Dragons engaging in battle with the other remaining Droids.

"Uh, sir? Are you okay? Do need a reboot?" A B1 asked, waving a hand in front of his faceplate.

"Uh, no. Um…" he said, trying to think about what to do. Even as an independently thinking unit, he still wasn't prepared for situations like this.

"Stay here, and… help defend the base." He said to the Dwarf Spider Droid and the B1. He then pointed to the B1 who was missing his right arm. "You, come with me, we're going in for some quick repairs and orders, We can't function like this.

He stepped inside the front entrance to the base and was met with a ton of B1s and B2s inside who all immediately raised their blasters at him

"Ah! Don't shoot! I'm on your team!" He shouted

"Halt. Why are you in here?" A B1 asked

"I was ordered back to base by the Commander!"

He replied.

The Droids parted so he could enter.

He raced upstairs to find TA-175 and his R5 unit rapidly downloading information from terminals before deleting it.

"Sir? What's going on?"

"Battle situation is untenable. We must withdraw. Defend the base until I am finished."

"Me and my fellow Droid here need repairs, I can barely walk!"

TA-175 stared at them with his white photoreceptors, almost giving them an "I really don't care" look before saying

"Quickly obtain repairs. Then back to the front for you." He said sternly, returning to his task.

OOM-340 and his squadmate entered the repair ward, greeted by an R4 Unit, who beeped at them to sit down and asked them what they needed.

"I need my legs repaired"

OOM-340 said, gesturing to the hole in his abdomen"

"I need an new arm" his squadmate said, pointing at the loose wiring hanging from the connection where his arm should've been.

The Astromech rushed off to the Spare parts bay, returning with plating, wiring, circuit boards and a spare right arm, before quickly getting to work.

"Is this going to hu-OWW! Watch what you're doing!" OOM-340 complained, as the droid began to slice away damage parts and weld in new ones.


	22. Chapter 22: Retreat

Chapter 22: Retreat

Ember was running out of options as she and her remaining Dragons were being surrounded by the remaining Droid forces at the front of the base.

She only had herself, 2 Dragon warriors and 1 large dragon left who was heavily wounded.

"Surrender meatbags!" A B1 demanded

"Dragons never surrender! " Ember shouted, breathing a wave of fire at the Droids melting the ones in front.

The Droids continued to advance towards them, as the Droid fighters came around to initiate another strafe run to finish off the last large Dragon.

Ember prepared for the worst when Shining Armor and his Ponies charged out of the woods and began to attack the Droids from behind, causing a moment of confusion between the B1s and B2s surrounding her as they decided which direction to fire in.

Ember took the chance and ordered the large dragon to unleash a wave of fire on them, which destroyed most of the Droids instantly and set the others ablaze. Soon all that was left of the Droids in the area were the ones in front of the base in an arc, guarding the doorway. The last group of droids outside consisted of B1s, B2s, 3 Crab Droids and 1 Dwarf Spider Droid who was dented, the same one who was from OOM-340's squad.

Shining Armor led his army forwards, with Ember and her Dragons bring up the rear focusing on the larger Droids. Within 2 minutes they had dealt with the remaining Droids outside… at least the ones on the ground. The buzzing of Vulture Droids and Hyena Bombers was heard again as they made their way around for another pass.

"Shields! Now!" Shining called, as he and his fellow Unicorns all focused their magic together to create a large bubble like dome over them that deflected the bombs and lasers.

"Fire!" Ember ordered, as the last large dragon poked his head out of the shield to let out an arc of fire into the air, knocking down 7 Vulture Droids and 2 Hyena Bombers, all but 3 of which exploded on impact. The other 3 of the Vulture Droids landed roughly, skidding across the ground before stopping.

"Great work! They won't get up from that!" Shining said to Ember

Suddenly though, the 3 Vulture Droids separated their wings into 4 legs, and stood up on them. A distinct head appeared from the body attached by a thin neck, and they began to "scissor walk" towards them.

"Ooh…" Shining said

"You had to open your mouth!" Ember snapped.

The 3 Vulture Droids unleashed a barrage of laser blasts from their twin Blaster cannons mounted on their fuselage, mowing down many more Ponies. The large Dragon stomped up to one and picked it up with its claws, and held in up in the air over its mouth. It was about to breathe fire on it when the Vulture Droid angled some of its legs at its mouth and fired missiles into it. The Dragon coughed smoke as the missiles exploded inside of it, before angrily tearing the Vulture Droid in half and throwing a half at one of the other Vulture Droids crushing it. The last remaining Vulture continued to focus its blaster fire on the Guardsponies, who fired bolts of magic at it. Eventually they scored a lucky hit on its thin neck, severing it and causing the Droids decapitated body to fall. They all began to relax a bit when suddenly the large dragon began coughing. It was subtle at first, but then he began to gag and choke, and cough up blood, along with small yellow balls that had 2 black dots, 1 on each half. The Dragon collapsed choking on its own blood, before dying. Ember rushed to its aid but there was nothing she could do, it seemed to be fine otherwise!

Suddenly, there was the sounds of flesh tearing and scales being cut by what sounded like circular saws, along with robotic chattering. Suddenly, small saws began to poke through its scales and cut holes! Out of the holes popped a small grey spider like robot, with 3 vertically arranged red eyes and 2 yellow hemispheres with a black dot on each. Suddenly, all of the coughed up balls split, revealing more of the small Droids.

"WHAT IN CELESTIA'S NAME?!" Cried a guard as several launched at his face and many other ponies and began to cut away at their flesh with their saws, drills and claws, even decapitating some!

Many more Buzz Droids began pouring out of the Dragons mouth and hole riddled body, as they quickly began to swarm the Dragons and Ponies alike. The Dragons began spraying their fire breath at them, which was fairly effective, but the ponies were having considerably less luck. Unicorns quickly tried to pull them off their comrades with their magic, and the others tried to smash them with spears.

Shining summoned his magical sword once more and began to slice through the Buzz Droids on the ground that leaped at him, before he began to help destroying the ones attacking his ponies.

"Why are there so many!?" Ember shouted in annoyance, kicking one off her and stabbing another one through the center eye with her staff. Suddenly, that once instantly fell limb.

"Focus on their middle eye!" She ordered "I think it's a weak spot!"

Several ponies around her and Shining began attempting to destroy them in the same way, which much success. Within 4 minutes, nearly all had been destroyed, with a few scurrying off into the Everfree Forest.

Shining and several other ponies flopped on the ground in exhaustion, panting.

"What were those things!?" He asked weakly

"I have no idea. Now get up, you look like a little colt down there." Ember said

The Princesses and the Mane 6 and fought and destroyed most of Droids behind the base, leaving only the 2 MTTs, who began to fire their twin forward heavy cannons at them. Celestia and Luna raised a shield around them and the Elements.

"How are we going to beat these things?" Twilight asked

"Luna and I will distract them while you and the others get behind them and find some way inside. There must be some kind of hatch!" Celestia said "now go!"

Twilight and her friends split into 2 groups, with Twilight, Spike, Pinkie Pie, and Fluttershy in one group, and Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and Rarity in the other, so that they wouldn't be able to fire on both of them at once. However, this proved redundant as they seemed to be pretty focused on the Princesses.

The groups both met around the back of the MTT on the left. The back was sloped at a slight angle, and had a large amount of vents and tubes running down an indent in the middle. However, there seemed to be a sort of large cargo hatch on the back. The only question was, how to get inside…

Twilight had the easy solution, as Twilight simply Teleported them inside. The inside was dark, hot, loud, and smelled like engine fumes.

"Ugh" Rarity groaned "this place is terribly dreadful! How can one work in such conditions."

"Shh!" Twilight said "were probably not alone!"

Echoing around the corner from the large generators they were by came the high pitched voices of 2 B1 Battle Droids who were standing on a catwalk that operated the deployment rack.

"What was that sound?"

"What sound?"

"It was like, uh, poof sound!"

"What? Your audio receptors are malfunctioning!"

"No really! I heard something! I'm gonna go check it out!"

The metal foot steps of one of them on the grated catwalk came closer.

As soon as the droid came around the corner Applejack bucked it against the wall, with such force that all of its limbs detached from their magnetic joints before loudly falling on the floor.

"Are you ok? Or did your legs fail to?" The other Droid asked while looking at at the control panel in front of it.

Rainbow Dash quietly floated over behind the droid worth a devilishly evil grin across her face as she rubbed her front hooves together.

"Think fast rusty!" She said as she grabbed her hand around its neck and yanked its head off. The Droids decapitated body stumbled around without a head before she kicked it over the railing. "come on' let's go! She said floating up the lift followed by Twilight.

They came up to a small room packed with computer screens and terminals, which showed various amounts of data and live feeds of the outside. 2 blue OOM Pilot Droids sat seated in chairs, one operating joysticks and pressing buttons, assumingly controlling the cannons while humming.

Twilight pulled him back over the chair towards her with her Magic.

"What the?!" They both said, as the other stood up and turned around in time to see Twilight stomp on its comrades head. The other droid simply raised its empty hands as if trying to surrender

"How does this thing work? Twilight demanded

"Um… this controls the steering…" the droid began "this controls the Turrets, and thi" the droid was cut off by Rainbow Dash darting up to it and slamming its head into the chair it stood by and then bucking it up in the air.

Twilight rolled her eyes

"That really wasn't necessary, Dash" she said

"Don't be such a bummer, he was a bad guy, and he told us all we need to know!" She said, sticking her tongue out at the dead Pilot Droid and attempting to sit down in the seat. "Now come on Twi give me a hand with the weapons"

Twilight sat down and Dash turned the steering lever to the left. The MTT shifted in the direction and the view turned to face the other MTT.

Twilight pushed on the buttons with hooves, and the cannons let loose a large series of laser blasts that penetrated straight through the other MTTs armor in its generator, and the machine exploded with a loud boom and it split in two and fell down to the ground from it's giving state.

"That was SO AWESOME!" Dash said, making her trademark "Awesome Face".

They left the cockpit and descended he lift down to the others.

"How do we get out of this dreadful place?" Rarity asked

"Hmm…" said Twilight, examining a nearby control

Panel before with buttons with various icons before pulling a lever, and the main hatch at the front opened.

They all stepped back out front back into the sun.

"Excellent work!" Celestia said, smiling at them. "Now we can breach the complex and apprehend these villains before they escape!"

They headed off towards the complex's rear door. It was a simple sliding door, which Twilight simply yanked open with her Magic and they stepped inside. At the far end of the corridor stood a bunch of B1s and B2s.

"Hey! Your not a droid! You're under arrest! You have ri-AAGGHH" one droid began before Celestia and Luna fired a blast of magic at them blowing them apart.

Around the corner came a metal rolling sound. The ponies all got in their combat poses again.

3 grey droid with a bronze outer shell came rolling around the corner at a high speed and came to a halt, where they unfolded into 3 legged Droids with an arched neck and back, 3 red eyes on a small head, and 2 arms which deployed last, but rather than ending in hands simply ended it 2 twin Blaster cannons. Then a blue transparent sphere appeared around them. The 3 droid let out a tsunami of laser fire, and although Celestia, Luna and Twilight were able to block some, the others were able to leap behind cover for the most part. For the most part…

Fluttershy rather than jumping as well curled up into a ball and began screaming in terror, before Dash swooped in and grabbed her, but not before she took a few shots to her front legs and right wing. Fluttershy began to howl in pain and tears ran down her cheeks as she felt the burning pain of the Droideka's Blaster shots.

The 3 Princesses all took turns shielding and firing Magic at the Droids, but their magic didn't appear to be very effective against the Droids! The blue shield surrounding them seemed to protect them from harm, much like their own!

"How do we defeat these fiends sister?" Luna asked

"I'm not sure! Focus magic!"

All 3 of them focused their magic attacks together at the Droidekas on the right. The shield began to fail, and began rerouting its power to the front only.

"Randomize attacks!" Celestia ordered, and they began to mix up their attack patterns, making them less predictable. Twilight scored lucky shot, hitting it in its right front leg, and the droid doubled over.

Dash took this as a chance, and flew at high speed towards one of the other two, and attempted to tackle it. Unfortunately, she was unaware that the shields stop any fast moving object, and instead of passing though, she simply bounced off the top and slammed into the wall behind it with a thud as stars circled around her head and her eyes went crossed for a second.

By this point, the first Droideka was destroyed, and 1 turned to face Rainbow, leaving one in both directions.

The Princesses began to advance with the rest of the girls, with the exception of Rarity, who was staying behind to help comfort the injured Fluttershy. They got up close to the Droidekas, while the Princesses shielded

them from harm. Eventually they had the first Droideka surrounded, and Applejack was able to dodge around its shots and slip through its shield, where she delivered a powerful buck to it knocking out its shield and sending it rolling into its comrade.

Applejack quickly finished off the downed Droideka and snuck up behind the other one, quickly grabbing it at its "neck" region and pulling back on it as she kicked its back leg, as Dash was barely managing to dodge its shots in her dazed state. The Droidekas back leg snapped off, and it fell on the ground on top of Applejack. The Droideka attempted to roll back into its ball form, but Applejack swiftly kicked it again, and broke it in half at the waist section, destroying it. They continued their way into the complex…

OOM-340 and his squadmate had just finished their repairs.

"Thanks buddy!" He said, patting the Astromech on its large R4 unit style head. The droid whistled that gratitude wasn't needed, as he was just doing his job. They stepped out of the repair room and the sound of Droideka Blaster fire could be heard downstairs, before the sound of Droids or other mechanical things being destroyed was heard and the sound of hooves in metal flooring was heard at the stairs.

"Uh oh! He said as the ponies shot the OOM Security Guards on the stairs along with his comrade who had just finished his repairs. OOM-340 ducked down as they took a shot at him.

Suddenly the R4 unit rolled out to see what all the commotion was, right as they took another shot. The unfortunate R4 unit was hit by the magic pulse fired by Twilight Sparkle, accidentally saving OOM-340. OOM-340 booked it as fast as his legs could carry him outside to the landing platform where TA-175, along with his Astromech and guards were boarding the Sheathipede Class shuttle. The boarding ramp was beginning to retract along with the landing gear, and OOM-340 lept into the shuttle right as it began to lift off of the ground. He turned around and looked out as the doors closed to see the Ponies emerge from the door and open fire as the shuttle lifted off into the air, quickily climbing higher into the atmosphere.

OOM-340 slumped against the wall and fell against it, letting out a groan of simulated relief.

"I'm made it… I made it…" he said it himself. Then he noticed to 2 Tactical Droid legs standing in front of him. He followed them up and was met with the image of TA-175 glaring down at him with his arms crossed.

"I ordered you to remain at the base and hold them off."

"But sir, they were right there when I came out! There wasn't anything I could do! I didn't even have my Blaster!" He spat out, trying to explain why he disobeyed orders.

TA-175 stared at him for a moment more before walking off to the cockpit and activating the com system of the shuttle.

"Identity" came a B1 voice from the other end

"This is Shuttle 17-97-A4 requesting permission to land aboard the 'Enforcement.'" He replied, reading it out slowly in his monotone voice.

"Accepted! Welcome!" The Droid said, as the shuttle passed through the energy barrier and landed in the hangar bay, deploying its "legs" and boarding ramp.

TA-175, OOM-340, and the other Droids in board stepped out. TA-175 headed off to the bridge…


	23. Chapter 23: The Abandoned Survivor

Chapter 23: The Abandoned Survivor

The Mane 6 and the Princesses watched as the Shuttle flew off into the sky, carrying their enemy with it.

Twilight sighed in frustration

"They got away! I can't believe it!"

"Do not worry Twilight, I'm sure we'll be able to stop them soon, as I am certain they will return." Celestia said to her former student.

"I can always fly after them" Dash suggested

"There is no point in pursuing them currently, they will be headed out of the atmosphere, where we can't follow."

Rarity walked out with Fluttershy, who came limping along as the joined their friends.

"Did you get those ruffians?"

"No Rarity, they got away" Twilight responded

"Oh dear, what ever shall we do? They are free to cause more chaos!"

"Do not worry my little ponies, I am sure we will defeat them soon enough" Celestia said, attempting to reassure her subjects, before she and her sister flew off to go check on the Guardsponies. The group walked back inside.

All of the Droids in the room were dead, except the blue and white R4 Unit, who was over in the corner, shaking and with a smoking hole in his body. Almost all of his panels were open, exposing the various tools within. Clearly the accidental shot from Twilight caused an overload in his systems.

"Maybe this little feller knows somethin'" Applejack said gesturing to it.

The group approached the Astromech, who slowly began to roll back ways away from them and let out a low almost moan-like sound of fear, as it began to shake further, clearly terrified.

"Hold on little feller, we ain't gonna hurt ya'" Applejack said, trying to reassure the small machine that displayed nothing but terror to them right now.

They continued to slowly step closer.

Suddenly a few panels on its chest popped open, and a set of small claws and a zapper popped out. Then R4 unit then rolled into the corner and sat there shaking, clearly ready to defend itself.

Fluttershy limped forwards, and gave a small smile at the small droid.

"Umm…" she began in her soft voice "excuse me, you don't have to be afraid. What my friend Twilight did was an accident. We don't want to hurt you, we just want to talk" she said, trying to be as friendly as possible

The Astromech seemed to understand her and trust her a little better, because it retracted a few of its arms and seemed to shake less.

"My names Fluttershy, can you tell me yours… if that's okay with you?"

The R4 unit simply beeped its name in Droidspeak, R4-F6

"I'm sorry, um, could you say that again?

The R4 unit beeped again, saying that its name in droid speak, as it was the only language it was capable of speaking.

"I'm sorry Twilight" she said, turning to face her "I don't understand what it's saying."

"We'll take it back to the castle, see if we can find a translation spell"

"Okay." She turned to face the Droid again "Would, um, would you like to come with us?"

The Droid shook its head no.

Twilight stepped forwards

"That wasn't really a question, we need to analyze you."

The droid shook its head again and extended its zapper again, and held it out towards the group as it began to roll towards the stairs. Suddenly Applejack whipped out her trusty lasso skills and coiled her rope around the droid, attempting to pull it over. The droid simply rolled backwards, and extended a circular saw from its chest, cutting the rope of and continuing its escape.

R4-F6 was preparing to try and make a flying leap down the stairs when it was surrounded by a purple aura and held in the air.

Twilight pulled him over to her with her magic.

"Listen here you little rascal, you're coming with us-OW!" Twilight said as he extended its small claw arms and pinched her nose and cheeks, causing her to drop him.

The Droid attempted to turn and run again, only for Rarity to grasp him with her magic at a safe distance. Well, she thought it was safe.

The droid extended a small hose and began to spew oil all over her from it.

"EW EW EW!" She said, as Twilight zapped it with a stun blast of magic. The droid let out a small whimper and fell limp.

The droid was dropped to the floor, and Applejack tied around it with more rope, making sure to hold its saw panel shut.

"Ugh, this is going to take forever to clean out!" Rarity said, as he tried to wipe the oil off her coat with a towel. "Just who the hay does this little ruffian think he is to attack such fashion!"

Applejack pushed the droid upright , and began to pull it on its wheels by a rope.

"Alright, let's get this little troublemaker back to town."

Twilight said, beginning to walk down the stairs.

"When I get back I'm going to the spa!" Rarity said quickly following her."

Back in Ponyville, the Mane 6 all entered the Castle of Friendship. Outside, many of the Guardsponies were having a small party, for their first real victory, drinking cider and such in a drunk-like state.

Inside, the Mane 6 were sitting around the cutie map, discussing the day's events and waiting for the captured Droid to reactivate for questioning.

Rarity looked well refreshed, having gone to the spa as she declared, and Fluttershy had bandaging around her front legs and right wing, to help her heal from her Blaster injuries.

Spike entered through the door with a Unicorn Pony,, who had been examining destroyed Battle Droids by order of Princess Celestia.

"Hey Twi! Check this out!" Spike said excitedly.

"What?"

The sound of 2 sets of metal footsteps were heard behind him, and 2 battered reassembled Battle Droid walked in.

Twilight got into her combat pose, opening her wings

"Behind you!"

"No no wait! He said "Glowing Brilliance here managed to figure out how they work! Well, sort of. Turns out their actually pretty simple, all the computer bits are in their head.

"So what did you do with these two?"

Glowing Brilliance, the unicorn who was studying the Droids, walked forwards with the 2 Droids following her.

"Well, I sort of worked with a magic spell, that swaps somepony's perceptions. Basically they're brainwashed to be on our side. Normally the Princesses would forbid this as it would be cruel to living things, but she let me do it because these things aren't technically alive."

"Fascinating! Can we do it to them all?" Twilight asked

"Well, no. You have to interface directly with their central control systems in their head, and it takes a few minutes for them to reboot with the desired effect. And it turns out… these things aren't all that… clever." She said "but at least they're on our side."

"Well we knew that, we distracted some earlier with rocks!"'Rainbow Dash blurted out.

The Droids stepped up to Twilight and saluted her.

"What are your orders commander?"

"I don't have any, um… what's your name?"

"I am B1-28401!

"I am B1-77356!

"Can we just call ya One an Two?" Applejack said "your real names are mighty technical and I'm not the one for all that."

"Roger Roger sir!"

"I'm a mare!" Applejack said, annoyed

"Oh, um yes sir, uh mare… sir." The droid said, obviously not understanding that being a mare made her a ma'am.

"So…" Twilight began "can they understand the little guy over there?" She said, gesturing to the inactive R4 Unit.

"Roger Roger! What are your orders?"

"Wake him up, I want to talk to him."

1&2 walked over to R4-F6, and pounded on his head. The droid's motor activated and he hummed to life. He looked around, taking in his surroundings. He thought maybe he'd been rescued! But… wait there were ponies in the room. Not these blasted morons again he thought.

They all came over and sat down in front of the droid.

"So, let's start over again, I'm Twilight Sparkle, and these are my friends Applejack, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy." She said smiling "who are you?"

The droid extended one of its small arms to its face and face palmed, letting out small grumbles before repeating his name, which 1&2 translated for the ponies.

"RA-F6? What do you all have names of letters and numbers?"

R4 explained that it was a designation code, no different than her own other than not sounding ridiculous like hers and her friends.

"Hey!" Rainbow Dash said "our names aren't ridiculous! They're awesome!"

R4-F6 ignored her.

"We need you to tell us a little bit more about your friends, the Confederacy as they called themselves" Twilight said, shifting the conversation.

R4-F6 shook his head.

"No?" Twilight said in bit of shock, expecting the droid to behave nicer now that they weren't fighting. "But if you don't tell us about their strategies or anything, many ponies could die!"

R4-F6 simply stated that he didn't care about them, as he didn't like them anyways. He continued by saying even if he wanted to, he was forbidden by protocol from revealing info to enemies.

"Come on, please?" She said, making her puppy eyes face again.

The droid simply refused again.

"Fine, then we'll have to do this the hard way. Fluttershy, stare."

Fluttershy turned to Twilight

"But, um, I really don't like to do the stare, remember?"

"These things aren't alive Fluttershy, could you please just do it."

"Okay… okay…" she said to herself as she stood up and let out her angry glare on the Astromech.

The droid turned it's head away, only for her to turn it back.

The droid began to whine a bit, but ultimately was unaffected.

"What?! But, the stare always works!" Twilight exclaimed

"Not always, it didn't work on Discord, remember?"

"Hmm… Discord! That's it! Maybe we need a little chaos to crack him!"


	24. Chapter 24: Chaotic Interrogation

Chapter 24: Chaotic Interrogation

"Are ya sure that's a good idea?" Applejack asked

"Relax, he's reformed now, besides we have the elements. Fluttershy, could you call him?"

There was a bright white flash and a bizarre creature appeared. It's body was snake-like, but with limbs. It's tail, head and limbs were all mismatched, with a right arm being from a lion, its left hand being from an eagle, its right leg seemed to belong to a green lizard or reptile, and it's left leg was from a goat. On top of this, it had a red scaly tail with a white tuft, and its head was horse-like, but with yellow eyes with red pupils. It had a deer antler on the right of its head and a goat horn on its left, and a sharp tooth that hung out of its mouth a white strand of hair on its chin.

"Don't need to my princess" the creature said "how might your local god of chaos and disharmony assist you today?" He said bowing

"We need help interrogating this prisoner."

Discord peered at R4-F6 and laughed

"This trash can?! Your interrogating a trash can!?" He said falling in his back laughing "I bet all its knowledge is garbage!" He said

R4-F6 simply grumbled in anger. He'd really love to feed all of them to a crusher or incinerator right now.

"But if you need help with this, I'll see what I can do." He said smiling evilly.

"Well, are you aware of the war that began the other day between us and these… robots?" Twilight asked

"Oh of course! But I prefer to spectate, it in itself is deliciously chaotic! But I'll still help my friends."

"Why didn't you help us earlier? I got hurt!" Fluttershy asked

"They hurt you?!" Discord exclaimed in shock, bending over to examine her bandages "THEY'LL PAY FOR THAT" he said his eyes flashing a glowing red for a moment. He turned back to Twilight "but what do you need?

"Well, we've captured this little guy, and he won't tell us anything. Perhaps you could work your magic on his mind."

"Of course!" He said, snapping his fingers and disappearing into R4-F6's literal mind.

The droid began to shudder and let out various whistles and beeps of distress, and its head began to spin. After a short while the droid began to smoke and suddenly it shorted lit as electricity coursed through it. Discord reappeared outside of the fried droid in a flash.

"So where do you want me to start, at the beginning or the highlights?" He asked

"The highlights will do fine" Twilight said, as Spike retrieved a piece of parchment and a quill.

Discord took an a deep breath.

"He's an R4 series Astromech droid manufactured by Industrial Automaton in 20 BBY, he worked for the Droids a repairmen and performed maintenance duties, he was transferred to the Everfree Separatist Post under the command of his superior TA-175, who retreated following the equines attack and is now in orbit with the fleet." He let out a sigh of exhaustion before inhaling again "he was connected to the Separatist holonet and had access to tier 1 data." He flopped on the floor panting heavily."

Spike wrote that down on the paper and handed it to Twilight.

"Thanks Discord, is he going to be okay?"

"Um… I don't think so. He put of a pretty big fight when I was in there, and I had to corrupt a lot of stuff to get through, and corrupting his mind isn't like corrupting a pony's. In basic terms my dear, he brain dead."

"I didn't tell you to kill him!" Twilight scolded

"He's not dead, he's just a vegetable! A metal, brain dead vegetable. And you didn't say not to!"

Twilight kicked herself for not being more specific, they could have analyzed him for their own use.

"Cheerio!" He said, disappearing in a flash.

"So…" Rainbow Dash began, gesturing to the reprogrammed B1s "what about them?"

"Well, we have a few options" Glowing Brilliance said "we can try to use them as soldiers, sidekicks or spies.

"Wouldn't friendly fire be an issue? How can we tell them apart?"

"That's for you to decide with the Princesses. They're yours now". She said, trotting out of the room.

A few hours had passed and Celestia and Luna had joined the Mane 6 in the room, deciding what to do with their reprogrammed Droids.

"If we used them as spies, we could gain knowledge about how their military works, and find the weaknesses" Luna suggested

"A good tactic Sister" Celestia commented "but I think we should hold off using them for now. Besides, how would we communicate with them? Or tell them apart?"

"We could paint them" Rarity said

"Wouldn't that just make it obvious that they're spies?" Applejack asked, giving her a concerned look "spies aren't all fancy shmancy and glittery."

"I didn't mean like that Applejack!" Rarity replied "I mean like a dot on their chest or something! Maybe a hoof shape on their shoulder!"

Celestia raised a hoof, signaling for them to be silent

"We will have to discuss what we will do with our new friends in the future. In the meantime, we must all get some sleep. In the morning my Sister and I will return to Canterlot."

The door to the bridge opened with a hiss, and TA-175 stepped through. They bridge was dark, as nighttime had fallen and the planet was blocking the sun, with the only natural light entering the bridge being created by the moon. He approached Kraken who was sitting in his command chair, with a hand up to his beak-like "mouth", as if thinking.

"Sir, I have returned. The only salvageable units that were able to be recovered were myself, my Astromech assistance, 1 OOM Commander, 4 OOM Security Droids, 2 OOM Pilot Droids, 1 Droideka and my personal Sheathipede Class Shuttle. All data present at base has been erased, with the exception of this data packet which contains it." He said, handing the data packet to Kraken

"The failure was unfortunate. However we will not fail again. Prepare to be redeployed, I will brief you on your next assignment shortly."

"Yes sir." He said, stepping back to the planning table, crossing his arms behind his back and waiting.

Kraken activated his comlink and contact the other 2 Tactical Droids, TJ-912 and TF-1726.

"Report to my ship for future assignment. Today we begin the full invasion of Equestria."

"Yes sir." They said, before closing the transmission.

OOM-340 entered the maintenance bay. He had been fully repaired, but he had one other thought on his mind: a nice refreshing oil bath. His deployment in the Everfree had caused his feet and leg joints to accumulate a fair amount of mud and grit in them, blocking certain servos and mechanisms from working properly.

It was rare for a Battle Droid to get an oil bath, if at all, but sometimes Commanders and Tactical Droids were treated to them.

Stepping into the maintenance bay there were various Battle Droids and other droids undergoing repairs. Various spare parts were hung on racks.

OOM-340 stepped into one of the empty tubs and the floor lowered, before it began to fill with oil and he was submerged. Maybe today wasn't such a bad day after all he though.

Nah it was still terrible.


	25. Chapter 25: Invasion

Chapter 25: Invasion

The doors to the bridge opened once more with a hiss and 2 T-Series Tactical Droids entered, the red and tan TK-912, and the green and tan TF-1726. They both stepped up the holotable and stood beside TA-175.

Kraken stood up and walked over to the holotable.

"Our first attempt to launch an invasion of the planet has failed. We will now attempt a 2nd invasion on a continental scale. All 3 of you will be involved in surface operations."

The 3 Tactical Droids all nodded and a hologram of Equestria appeared on the holotable.

"TA-175, you will be deployed to the city known as Manehattan." Kraken continued, pointing to it on the map "TF-1726, you will lead an invasion of the region known as The Crystal Empire, here" he said, pointing a finger to it. "TJ-912, I have found the southern regions of the continent to be rather uninhabited, but I have located 3 significant settlements here, here and here." He said, pointing to Rockville, Appleloosa and Dodge City "you will land in the settlement of Appleloosa in the center, and spread out from there. Are your orders properly logged?"

"Yes sir." They all said

"Good. C-9979 Landing Craft will deploy mobile operation centers for you to operate at in each of your locations. Your Shuttles are waiting, go."

They nodded and turned around, walking out of the bridge.

The oil around OOM-340 began to drain and he saw the lights of the room again as the tub he was in raised him back up to the floor level. His body appeared a bit more shiny and glossy, but still showed scratches and scuffs from battle. He flexed his limbs, making sure all of them were working well.

"Aah, that was good! I feel like I'm fresh off the assembly line again!" He stepped out, stepping through a dryer and leaving the room.

Suddenly his radio buzzed in with new orders: obtain weapons and report to the hanger area.

OOM-340 hurried off to the armory, grabbing a standard E-5 Blaster Rifle and a power cell for it, before he began to run to the hanger bay.

In the Hanger bay, among the various Vulture Droids wandering around, were 3 Sheathipede Class Shuttles, and 2 large battalions of Battle Droids standing in formation in front of a Single C-9979 Landing Craft, along with various other vehicles. OOM-340 came running out through and open door before he walked up to a battalion and took up position in front, where Commanders were generally expected to stand, standing up as straight as he could with his arms by his sides and his Blaster on his back.

3 Tactical Droids walked out of a door, OOM-340 recognizing one as TA-175. They all walked and boarded separate shuttles before the shuttles departed. The massive landing crafts doors opened and a nearby Pilot Battle Droid gestured to it, signaling for the Droids to board. OOM-340 marched slowly up the boarding ramp with the Droids behind him following, making the loud clanking noise with each step that gave them their nickname "Clankers".

It was back to work time. His 10 minute oil bath and relaxation time had been nice though.

Once the droid and vehicles were all loaded onto the transport, the massive cargo doors closed and the ship turned to the open Hangerbay door. Various Vulture Droid that were stretching their legs and joints moved out of the way or transformed into their flight position, as the ship exited the hangerbay, being followed by a few Vulture Droids to escort it. Behind the 'Enforcement' was the fleet's massive Lucrehulk Class Control ship. It's two large hangerbay doors opened, and out flew many more C-9979 Landing Craft, all of them descending to the Planet of Equestria below. The invasion had begun.

Twilight awoke and stepped out of her bed, seeing that all her friends except Applejack and Pinkie Pie were still asleep. She checked her guest room, finding that Celestia and Luna had already gone back to Canterlot, but there were still several guards around the castle. Twilight trotted downstairs to have breakfast, smelling toast and other breakfast foods.

Twilight sat at the table reading a book, until breakfast was ready and the rest of her friends came down stairs to eat. They all gathered around the dining table and began to eat their breakfast.

Celestia sat in her throne with her sister Luna beside her on the dais, which was surrounded by various royal guards all bearing their stern expressions. Suddenly the throne room doors flew open and Princess Cadance came rushing in carrying Flurry Heart. She was looking battered and beaten, with her mane and tail a mess and the look of exhaustion on her face.

Celestia and Luna ran down the throne to her, catching them in their hooves as she fell to the floor in exhaustion.

"Cadance! Are you alright?" Celestia exclaimed with worry her voice

"Those machines…" she coughed "they attacked The Crystal Empire! Tons of them!" She said getting on her hooves again "they came in these huge ships! I did what I could but there were too many of them!"

Celestia felt grim, she knew those machines would return.

"Are you okay?"

"Yes" she sniffled "I-I think so. Flurry Heart was all I was able to grab before I had to flee."

The sound of hooves clattering on the stone floors was heard in the hall, and a messenger came running to the throne room. The messenger bowed down to Princess Celestia and levitated her a letter.

Celestia unrolled be letter and began to read it quickly.

It was a letter from the Mayor of Manehattan, the Droids had attacked there too! This wasn't just a single attack anymore, this was a full on invasion.

"Luna, take care of Princess Cadance and Flurry Heart, I must message Princess Twilight immediately, we are under attack!"

Luna nodded and embraced Cadence in a hug attempting to calm her down.

Celestia levitated her writing easel over to her with a piece of parchment, and dipped her quill in ink before beginning to write a letter rapidly, which she then rolled up and sent in a span of less than 30 seconds.

"Send a detachment of the Royal Guard to The Crystal Empire and Manehattan at once!" She ordered

The doors on the C-9979 landing craft opened and sunlight flooded the entrance ramp. OOM-340 pointed forward signaling for his troops to march out of the ship with him.

The loud clanking of their feet was heard again as they marched off he boarding ramp to the outside. The ship along with others had landed in what's seemed to be a park in a city. Behind his platoon came a line of B2s and 2 MTTs. If he had a jaw, it would've dropped when he saw what the ship deployed next, 2 large Octuptarra Droids.

His simulated moral boosted and he began to lead his troops into the city.

His radio buzzed in, it was TA-175 giving him orders, as well as everyone else in the army.

"Today's glorious strategy involved the taking of Manehattan. We will advance down the main street and capture the city's capitol building and with it the rest of Manehattan. Annihilate any ponies who get in the way of your mission. Ensure the MTTs arrive to deploy their troops inside the city hall."

"Roger Roger!" He replied as he continued he march into the city. The streets were littered with abandoned carts and carriages, and there were some makeshift barricades which police ponies were hiding behind. Some were levitating riot shields, and others just had riot batons. OOM-340 raised his left hand and pointed forwards

"Blast 'em!" He shouted to his troops

Various unicorns started levitating fruit from nearby bushels such as apples, oranges and lemons, which splattered against the Droids to little effect. It only got somewhat effective when they began throwing watermelons, which took out a few B1s, but by that point the Droids had virtually advanced right up to them and cut them down with Blaster fire.

A few police ponies ran up to them with riot shields and riot baton, a few managing to take out some Droids before being put down themselves. One managed to get right up to OOM-340 himself. The pony smacked his Blaster from his hand and hit him with his baton, before OOM-340 punched him in one of his eyes causing him to scream in pain, before OOM-340 retrieved his Blaster and finished him off.

The Octuptarra Droids began to fire their Blaster cannons mounted to their large ball shaped heads, as they stood and stepped over OOM-340 and his Droids on their long spindly legs.

The skirmish between the Droids and law enforcement was over quickly, and the Droids continued advancing.

Today would be a glorious day for the Separatist Alliance!

At least what was left of it.

Twilight and her friends had just finished breakfast and were starting to clean up. Suddenly, Spike gagged and coughed out fire which materialized into a letter.

Twilight trotted over and opened the letter and read it aloud for everyone to hear.

"Dearest Princess Twilight,

Equestria is now under full scale invasion by the Confederacy of Independent Systems. They have launched attacks on The Crystal Empire and Manehattan. Assemble the Elements of Harmony and Shining Armor, and come to Canterlot at once.

Your friend and former mentor,

Princess Celestia"

The whole group gasped in horror. Twilight pushed the letter side and the Mane 6 rushed to get their things for the journey.

Once they gathered the Elements and and their necessary belongings, they headed off to the Ponyville train station, where they boarded the Friendship Express to Canterlot.

Immediately upon arrival, they noticed the immense increase in security, but thanks to Shining Armor and Twilight Sparkle's status they were able to get through and to the Canterlot Castle with ease.

Rushing through the wide open halls and pushing open the Throne Room doors the Mane 6, Shining Armor and Spike all ran up to the front of the Throne where they found Princesses Celestia, Luna and Cadance all waiting for them.

Shining Armor darted for his wife Cadance and Flurry Heart enveloping them in a hug

"I came as soon as I heard" he said "I'm so glad your safe.

Cadence smiled but didn't say anything.

Twilight was happy to see her sister and law and niece safe and sound, but quickly turned to face Celestia and Luna.

"As I told you there has been an attack in the Crystal Empire and Manehattan."

"Yes your highness, we came as soon as we could."

Celestia nodded.

"Word has since come in that the Droids have attacked somewhere south in Equestria, possibly Appleloosa and Dodge Junction"

"Appleloosa?!" Exclaimed Applejack "but ah've got family there! Like cousin Braeburn!"

"Do not fear, I have sent a detachment of the Royal Guard to each of these locations to assist in repelling the Droids, but we need your help with the Crystal Empire. The Droids have deployed a large force, and my Guardsponies will need your help to liberate it from them."

"You can count me and Cadance in" Shining Armor said "nopony attacks our home, especially not a bunch of clanking machines that belong in a scrap heap!"

Twilight nodded

"We will go at once. What about Manehattan? That's a very big city."

"I will send Starlight Glimmer and Trixie along with the Pegasi and the Wonderbolts to assist the Guardsponies there." Celestia replied "now go, before it is too late!"


	26. Chapter 26: The Seige of Manehattan

Chapter 26: The Siege of Manehattan

The march towards the capital building of Manehattan had been relatively easy once they got past that first wave of police ponies and blown through the abandoned chariots in the road. The army of Droid was nearing the capital building but there were a number of approaching shapes in the sky. As they got closer, OOM-340 was able to identify their shapes, and it was just as he feared: Pegasi, a number of them with blue and yellow flight uniforms, and others carrying storm clouds.

"Up there!" He yelled to his B1 brethren who also looked up

"What's that?" A B1 asked

"Ponies you idiot!" Another replied

"Oh. I think their kinda cu-" the other began

"Blast 'em!" OOM-340 ordered. The B1s began to fire in the air, taking out a few of the normal Pegasi Guardsponies, but the blue uniformed ones were able to evade every attack with ease.

Suddenly, the blue uniformed ones all lined up in an V shape and dived down towards the Droids and flew at them. The uniformed ponies flew into front waves of B1s, smashing though many of them before pulling up into the air again.

Suddenly an arrow landed next to OOM-340 and he began to hear the sound of hundreds of hooves growing louder, almost drowning out the clanking of the Droid army's synchronized footsteps.

He turned around, and saw up ahead that more of those Royal guardsponies had showed up, with several launching arrows from bows at them from range, while other charged at the Droid forces with spears, lances and swords.

"Uh oh…" OOM-340 said in his high pitched voice before turning around and pushing last B1s to get behind the battalion. He didn't want to be in front when the close up combat began.

OOM-340 began to think about what the best strategy would be in this situation.

"Forward units, focus fire on the charging ponies, secondary units, eliminate attacking air units."

He turned to the Octuptarra Droids.

"Hmm" he thought. They wouldn't be accurate shooting in the air, they were long ranged anti-vehicle or anti-fortification units. He reached up to his radio "Octuptarra Droids, fire on their archers!"

At that moment the sounds of melee combat and Droids being smashed and sliced at was heard as the front lines of both sides met, and the sounds of Battle increased.

OOM-340's radio buzzed in again from command

"You are 2 minutes and 30 seconds behind schedule, this delay is intolerable." TA-175 scolded

"Sorry sir! Their army has arrived and they have slowed us down!"

"Protect the MTT transports, they are vital to the mission's success."

"Roger Roger!" He said closing the transmission in time to aim and fire at a pony who was charging him.

"Advance! We must win! We cannot fail the commander!" He said, attempting to rally his troops.

Although the ponies were taking out many B1s in the front rows of the army, they were still suffering heavy losses. Up ahead there were an amassment of storm clouds fairly low to the ground, which the Pegasi had brought with them.

"Ha, they think a little rain is going to stop us? We're water resistant!" He said confidently marching on alongside his troops forward under the storm clouds. Rain began to pour down from the clouds, and although it made the already inaccurate B1's Blaster shots less accurate, they still hit most of their targets as they were directly in front of them.

Suddenly there was a loud crack of thunder and a flashes of lighting, as various lightning bolts shot out of the clouds towards the ground, striking many Droids and overloading their systems.

"Oh…" OOM-340 began before a series of lighting bolts arched towards the lead Octuptarra droid and hit it directly in its head. The Droid shuttered and a mere second later, its head exploded in a massive flash, and the towering Droid fell to the ground crushing smaller Droids with its legs.

"Oooh…. uh oh!" OOM-340 exclaimed suddenly realizing that the clouds were a trap.

"Pull back! Retreat! Retreat! We must take an alternate route!" He ordered, sprinting away from the front lineand pointing towards an intersection.

"Go this way! The objective is this way!" He shouted, as the B2s and remaining B1s followed his orders, along with the MTTs. There was another loud boom, and the second Octuptarra Droid's head exploded, causing it's falling body to fall into a set of nearby small shops and apartments leveling several of them.

"What is the delay?!" TA-175 demanded in his monotone voice, with a hint of irritation in it. "You should be there by now! This delay is intolerable!"

"Sorry sir! They had a trap set up and we had to reroute!"

"Made haste, we must capture Manehattan before the Equians have a chance to bring in more reinforcements. Push forwards, sacrifice and make progress!" He ordered, closing the transmission.

The group continued up the side street, where here was less defenses, meeting only half as many Guardsponies.

The uniformed Pegasi came around for another strafe run, taking out a few B2s and B1s, before one was shot down themselves.

The mare shot down was Surprise, as she was brought down to the ground forcefully when a Blaster shot pierced her right wing, causing her to crash and tumble across the pavement, which tore up her flight uniform revealing more of her white coat. Surprise struggled to get up on her broken legs, before she was yanked up into the air by a nearby B2's mit like hands. The machine held her in up in its iron grip and carried her over to OOM-340

"Sir, we have a prisoner." The B2 said in its deep voice

OOM-340 activated his radio

"Sir, we have a prisoner, one of their special Air Force units!"

"Prisoners are not required, we will soon control the city. Execute the prisoner"

The B2 heard this and simply blasted Surprise in the back of her head before tossing her body aside and carrying on its forward march.

The Droids continued to close in on the capitol buildings west side, finishing off the remaining guards outside as they neared the wall. TA-175 buzzed in over the radio again to OOM-340 and his army

"The MTT transports have reached their assigned position. However your time status is unacceptable. Initiate an interior building deployment of the droid garrison onboard the MTT. Capture the Capital from the inside, victory conditions approach."

"Roger Roger!" OOM-340 relied, pointing to the MTTs and then to the west wall of the capitol building. "Initiate a breach insertion!" He ordered via radio to the pilots.

The 2 MTTs advanced up to the wall until they were right in front of it, where they swiveled their ball Turrets and let out a series of explosive blasts at the wall breaking away the outer edge of it, before they rammed through the remaining stone into the interior.

"Move in!" OOM-340 ordered to his troops who slipped in through the holes while the MTTs extended their storage racks and deployed their Droid garrison.

Trixie and Starlight Glimmer stood inside the city hall, which had been turned into a makeshift HQ for the royal guards ponies watching the front street's guards finish off the remaining Droids from a distance that had been left behind in their retreat.

"Yes! Our trap worked!" Starlight said, pleased.

"These bucket heads will soon learn that you do not mess with Equestria, for we are great and powerful!" Trixie said

There was a serious of loud booms and the building shook.

A Guards pony ran up to them.

"Ma'am! The enemy has breached the west side of the building! We'll hold them off while you escape!"

"No! We will stay here and fight!" Starlight said as the sound of Blaster fire filled the rooms nearby.

"The Great and Powerful Trixie is a stage performer not a fighter!" Trixie exclaimed

"You have your fireworks, you have your tricks, use them!"

Trixie hadn't thought about using them.

"Give Trixie a minute to prepare!"

"Well make it quick!" Starlight said trotting towards the breached room with nearby guardsponies.

The inside of the room was filled with he dust of stone and plaster, as well as Blaster fire and War cries as the 2 sides tore away at each other.

OOM-340 sat crouched behind an overturned table peering over every now and then to take a shot at a guard or two. Suddenly a bright aqua colored beam of magic cut through an entire squad of B2s! OOM-340 peered over the table again to see a light purple unicorn with a dark purple Mane/tail with a blue strike emitting the beam. He barely managed to duck down under the table again before she would've hit him with the beam.

OOM-340 noticed a B1 carrying an E-60R rocket launcher walking nearby before it was cut in half by her beam.

If he could just get that rocket launcher he could potentially take out that Unicorn and help secure the area. He prepared himself mentally to dive out of cover, scoop up the rocket launcher and fire it at her.

"Here goes nothing!" He shouted as he rolled out of cover, picking up the rocket launcher and aiming it at Starlight Glimmer, before her fired it while continuing to let out a battle cry

"AAAAAAAAHHH!"

Starlight Glimmer gasped as a droid dull mustard yellow markings rolled out from behind a table and picked up and black tube shaped device and held it out to her, all while yelling in its high pitched voice.

She turned to face it ready to cut it down with her magic when suddenly there was bright flash at the end of the tube, and a small rocket flew out: Heading straight for her!

She quickly attempted to raise a magic shield, but it was only deployed part way when the missile hit, resulting him her being launched across the room and out the doorway. However she was the lucky one, as the nearby Guardsponies had been blown apart into bits and pieces.

She tried to stand but screamed in pain as she tried to put weight on her front hooves, her legs were broken!

"Somepony help me!" She said, trying again to stand before collapsing in pain.

Trixie came running out of a door way with her wizard hat and cape, along with her saddlebag of materials, before skidding to a stop when she saw Starlight sprawled across the floor.

"Starlight! Can you walk?" Trixie asked attempting to help her friend up

"No… I think my legs are broken. I think you're going to have to carry me" she said

Trixie glanced at the doorway, the shadows of the Droids visible around the corner as they marched closer, before she threw down a series of fireworks at the doorway and lit them, before rushing back over to Starlight, picking her up on her back.

The first group of Droids emerged from the doorway as the fireworks went off, blowing many of three apart in a colorful, loud series of explosions.

"Get ready! I'm gonna blow a smoke bomb and you teleport us out!" Trixie said

"Alright! Go!"

There was a sudden cloud of smoke and a poof, and when the smoke cleared, the 2 were gone.

OOM-340 tossed the rocket launcher aside walked through the doorway to the main hall to catch up with his troops.

"Area secured sir!" A B1 reported

"Good! I'll inform the commander!" He replied activating his radio "the capitol has been secured sir!"

"Congratulations on your missions success. The city will soon fall to the Confederacy. Establish a base of operations at the Capitol, I shall arrive shortly."

"Roger Roger!"


	27. Chapter 27: Battle of the Crystal Empire

Chapter 27: The Battle of the Crystal Empire

The Mane 6, Cadance, Shining Armor, and many royal guards ponies sat aboard the Friendship express as it carried them towards the Crystal Empire. As they approached their destination, the Crystal Castle came in to view with its massive spire reaching upward into the sky. However, also visible were enormous wings of several C-9979 Landing Craft which stretched over the numerous homes, many burning letting off black smoke clouds, a clear sign that the Droids had indeed landed.

Cadance was visibly saddened by the sight of her home being conquered by merciless machines. Shining wrapped a hoof around his wife

"Don't worry, we'll get our home back, everything will be alright."

"I just don't understand how they were able to take the Empire so easily." Cadance said "the Crystal Heart is supposed to protect us from evil!"

Twilight rubbed her chin

"It protected against evil magic, which must mean that these droids, lack magic of any kind, or atleast any sort that is known to Ponykind. They did seem pretty surprised when they found out we controlled the sun and moon, along with the weather." Twilight tried to think further, but the jolt of the train as it began to decelerate as it neared the station pulled back to reality.

Shining turned to the Royal guardsponies

"Listen up stallions! We are dealing with an enemy that Equestria had never seen the likes of before, but do not let that deceive you, these rust buckets are ready for the scrapyard, and we will liberate our city from this metal menace! We will breakthrough their lines, advance to the castle, and restore harmony to the Crystal Empire! Any questions?"

There was a unanimous "SIR NO SIR" from the guards, as the doors of the train opened and they poured out into the station, charging towards the front lines.

On the edge of the defenses were a few Droid patrols who were quickly taken out by the horde of guardsponies, as they advanced along side the Mane 6 into battle.

TF-1726 sat on top of "his" new throne in the Crystal Castle. The throne was oddly shaped, and a bit too large, being designed for an Alicorn to sit on it, but the Tactical Droid sat there nonetheless, as the Castle's new owner.

Several BX-Series Commando Droids stood guarding him in the room, along with 2 Droidekas

TF-1726 stood up from his chair and slowly stepped over to the window, gazing out at the Battle on the edges of the city.

"The equines are weak and under equipped for warfare. I calculate it were be a mere matter of hours before the city falls to us." He said confidenly as he turned and headed downstairs to the open room that held the Crystal Heart in its pedestal.

"Has the crystal's purpose been discovered?" He asked a B1 who stood nearby with a datapad.

"No sir, it's energy signature has not yet been identified." The Droid replied.

"Bring me to the Prisoner" TF-1726 ordered

TF-1726 was led to a room where an orange unicorn stallion wearing glasses with a dark orange Mane and tail, guarded by B2s and an OOM Commander, wearing binders around his hooves so tight he could barely walk. His hair was all messy, he looked exhausted, he was covered in bruises and had a black eye, it was obvious he had been beaten and tortured.

The OOM Commander handed TF-1726 a datapad, which displayed the prisoners known info.

Name: Sunburst

Gender: Male

Species: Unicorn Pony

Occupation: Crystaller and Magical Advisor, formerly at a school for Gifted Unicorns

"Restrain him" TF-1726 ordered, as Sunburst was shoved into a mobile containment field, where a cuff was clamped around his horn disabling his magic. The field was switched on and he hovered upwards, suspended in mid air by a bluish force field.

TF-1726 clamped his cold metal hand around Sunbursts snout and forced him to look him in the face.

"You will reveal all information you know to us."

Sunburst simply glared at the Tactical Droid stared back with his bright unblinking photoreceptors. Sunburst tried spit at TF-1726, who stepped away before the saliva even left his lips.

"Organics such as yourself disgust me. You will remain conscious throughout the entirety of this procedure." He said, anger slipping into his monotone voice. He turned to the OOM Commander "activate pain pulsers, inject him with X-C33, and prepare the Interrogation Droid.

"Roger Roger".

He turned to face Sunburst again

"What is the purpose of the Crystal formation under the castle?" He asked

"It's the Crystal Heart, it's supposed to protect The Crystal Empire from evil."

"It doesn't seem to have been effective. Most likely because the Separatist Alliance is not evil." TF-1726 replied

"No evil doer thinks they are evil" Sunburst replied

"Negative, my programming is simply to secure victory for the Separatist Alliance, to ensure freedom from the tyranny of the Galactic Republic."

The OOM Commander stoped back in followed by a rod-thin built Droid which had thin metal arms and legs, and a bronze head and torso plating. The droid had a data screen on his right eye, and his right hand was replaced by a wide array of tools such as syringes, prods, and scalpels.

"What does the Crystal Heart do?" TF-1726 asked, as the EV-Series Interrogation Droid injected Sunburst with X-C33, before giving him a jab with a scalpel to test the pain pulsars.

Sunburst cried in pain, as the small jab felt like 10 needles all being injected at once thanks to the pain pulsars.

"I told you, it's supposed to protect the Crystal Empire!"

"Data scans show that you are holding back information." TF-1726 replied

The EV Droid shocked him with an electric prod on its right hand, causing him to yelp in pain again.

"How is it powered."

"Love!" Cried Sunburst "just stop the torture!"

"Love is an emotion, not a physical energy source" TF-1726 relied, as the Droid shocked him again. "Give is all the intel on the Crystal Heart and how we can utilize it, and the pain will stop. You decide."

Sunburst knew that if he revealed the Crystal Heart's ability to give power to the Crystal Ponies, they would surely disable or destroy it, which would cause the Crystal Empire to be buried in a snowstorm. He couldn't fail his Princesses, he couldn't betray Equestria.

"Never" he panted, sweat dripping from his mane. "I can't. I won't."

"Continue." TF-1726 ordered the EV Droid, who continued to shock and torture Sunburst…

The Mane 6 continued to press onwards into the Crystal Empire, breaking through the outer Droid defenses and beginning to press into the city streets.

Shining approached his sister "if we take the castle from 2 angles, their commanders will have nowhere to run, the north is too cold, and to the south we have more forces on the way. They'd be trapped"

"Good thinking" Twilight said

"I'll send a small portion of my ponies to help you, good luck!"

The clanking sound of another wave of Droids approaching grew louder.

"See you at the Castle!" Twilight said to her brother, as he ran off to go lead his troops

The Droids rounded the corner of the street and their Commander pointed at them

"There they are! Blast em'!"

Rainbow Dash darted forwards at incredible speed and smashed the OOM Commander Droid, along with several others as the battle began, with Twilight firing her magic blasts, Applejack dealing fatal kicks to the Droids, Pinkie Pie her trusty party cannon, Rarity with her martial arts skills with Fluttershy, who was also dealing out rather lethal hits, and Spike, who was breathing fire on groups of Droids.

The Guardsponies who were with them also charged on, taking most of the blaster fire from the Droids to protect the Elements.

The last 7 Droids huddled together, attempting to make a stand against the ponies, but were suddenly surrounded by a rainbow blur as Dash flew around them. The Droids spun around disorientated, accidentally shooting 2 of their comrades, before being finished off by the Mane 6.

"Hmmph!" Fluttershy said, tossing a B1s severed head which she had used as a club away, before grinning sheepishly at her violent attack on the Droids, to which Pinkie just laughed.

The Mane 6 continued to advance up the street, taking in the now desolate Crystal city. Homes and shops which once housed the families and businesses of happy ponies were now ransacked, their goods thrown out into the street with shattered windows and walls covered scorch marks from blaster bolts.

Even Pinkie was saddened by the sight, but still kept small smile for she had hope.

There was a strange sound as an AAT' approached their street, being escorted by a small squad of B1s.

"Everyone, quick, hide!" Twilight said, gesturing to the shops.

The Mane 6 and the remaining Guardsponies dove in through a shattered window and laid down low on the floor inside the shop.

There was a loud scraping sound and the building shook. Twilight peeked out from behind a wall; the AAT had stopped. The street it was turning from was too narrow and it had gotten stuck between their building and one of the buildings across the street.

An OOM Commander popped his head out of the command hatch, as did the AAT's Driver from the front hatch.

"You buckethead! I told you we couldn't fit through there!" The commander droid scolded

"I thought the buildings would break and we could smash through!"

The droid facepalmed

"They're made of crystals! They aren't just going to crumble you idiot!"

The Droids continued arguing as the nearby B1s attempted to push the tank back from the buildings it was stuck between. Twilight turned to her friends

"Those Droids have one of their armored vehicles, and they're stuck. Maybe if we take them out, we can steal their ride and blast through their remaining defenses!" She whispered

"Good thinking your highness!" Replied a guard "we'll distract them while you sneak around back and get them from behind!"

"Okay… wait for it…" Twilight said, waiting for the Droids to try to push the tank again "wait for it… go!" She said.

"Hey bolt brains!" A guard shouted out, throwing a rock at the tank. "Think fast! Come and get me!"

"After them! The commander ordered to the escort troops, who turned and followed them as they ran.

The Mane 6 leaped out from behind cover behind the tank, ambushing the 2 gunners who stepped out of the tank's rear hatch.

"We're under atta-" the one began as he was bucked against the tank by Applejack, making a loud metallic clang before separating into various pieces.

The commander peeked his head over the Turret to look down at the guard

"Hey! Your not supposed to be here!" He began as he was pulled out for the tank by Twilight and thrown at the driver with her Magic. The Droid commander and the driver quickly stood up, raising their hands.

"Ugh, your color scheme is only slightly better than your comrades!" Rarity declared to the driver, noticing his camo-like coloring.

"How does this thing work?" Twilight said, pointing her horn at them menacingly.

"Okay okay!" The B1 driver began "well, this is the throttle… and this is the forward cannons, and those are the gunner seats, this is the periscope, this controls the turning, and that up there is the primary cannon controls" he said, gesturing to the Turret.

"Thank you, you've been most helpful, now behave and we'll let you live" Twilight said, still trying to maintain a threatening demeanor. The group didn't notice that the Commander Droid had been slowly taking small steps to his right, nearing a storage compartment.

The droid pulled open the storage compartment in split second, and yanked out an SE-14 Blaster Pistol which he pointed at the Mane 6 and fired off 3 shots. The shots flew toward the group, 1 hitting Applejack's hat and 2 hitting Pinkie Pie, scorching her fur.

Twilight blasted the Commander Droid with magic before smashing the driver, who attempted to throw a punch.

This all happened in 2.3 Seconds.

"Well, so much for mercy" Twilight said, tossing the destroyed Droids out of the tank, before pulling it free form the building with her magic. "Pinkie, are you okay?"

Pinkie had 2 scorch marks on her fur, but didn't appear to have deep wounds.

"I'm alright!"

Twilight nodded.

"So, who's driving?"

"I'll drive!" Applejack and Rainbow Dash said in unison. "Hoof wrestle for driver!" They said, as they locked hooves and began to wrestle for the position.

Twilight climbed up into the turret's seat, while Pinkie Pie took up position in one of the gunner's seats.

Applejack slammed Dash's hoof on the ground, winning the match and attempting to climb into the driver's seat, only to discover she couldn't fit quite well. Dash began to laugh as she sat at the other gunning position, before Applejack suddenly kicked the seat out of the tank and sat in its place.

"Let's get moving, we don't want to disappoint Shining now do we?" Twilight called from the Turret.

"Hold on everypony!" Applejack said, as she reversed the AAT and turned it around, closing the boarding hatch.

Rarity, Fluttershy and Spike all fell against the rear hatch as she threw the tank's control levers into full forward throttle, and the tank began to accelerate.

"YEEEE-HAAAWW!" Applejack shouted out the open drivers hatch, before closing it.

The captured AAT hovered towards the Droid occupied Crystal Castle at the center of the Crystal Empire

TF-1726 was impressed with Sunbursts ability to resist electrical shock. He could pity having to use such cruel methods for data extraction, at least if he was programmed to.

"I am impressed with your resistance, but your body is weakening, if you give us what we want, your suffering will end" said the EV Droid in its grating mechanical voice. "However, I am by no means saying give up, this is quite entertaining" the Droid continued, almost letting out a sadistic laugh "at least for me…"

"You're sick…" Sunburst wheezed, sweat rolling down his face.

"It is my programming, you can thank my manufacturer for that. As much as they view my line as a failure…" the EV Droid replied.

"Commander!" Said a B1 as it approached TF-1726 "we have reports of the 6 high interest equines in the city, as well as the alicorn who we captured the city from, they seem to be launching a counter attack. In addition, we've lost contact with our other defenses."

"Activate our garrisons on the transports. Defend the castle at all costs. Collateral damage does not concern me."

"Roger Roger"

TF-1726 turned to face Sunburst again

"It seems your compassionate friends have returned in attempt to retake the city. Just as I calculated that they would."

"They're more powerful than you think" Sunburst replied

"I calculate a 78% Probability that you are incorrect."

"Our Magic and power is more powerful than any force, be it machine or creature!"

"EV-7S-F, continue your work."

"With pleasure!" The Droid replied, extending its scalpel tool and beginning to cut at Sunburst's leg. The sounds of his screams echoed off the walls of the Crystal Castle...

Shining, Cadance and their forces had advanced up to one of the streets leading to the Crystal Castle, but were encountering heavy resistance. The Droids, in what little time they had, managed to fortify the castles arches underside into a well defended location. Various chunks of crystals taken from demolished buildings had been piled up to act as cover, and various B1s and B2 droids had taken up position behind them, along with Dwarf Spider Droids and AATs.

"Bring up the catapults, the cannons, we need to be ready to storm the castle when the Elements of Harmony arrive at the other side! Be careful not to hit the Crystal Heart!" He ordered, as several cannons were rolled up and fired. The cannonballs blew apart many squads of Droids, but left the AATs and Dwarf Spider Droids relatively unharmed. Various squads of B1s stood around the Crystal Heart, making cannon bombardment of them impossible.

"Keep firing on their heavy vehicles! We need to be ready to charge!"

The Mane 6 raced the street to the Castle, as fast as the Tank's slow repulsorlifts could carry them. The AAT approached a barricade of Battle Droids. A B1 raised their hand to them, signaling them to stop.

The tanks radio buzzed in, and B1s high pitched voice could be heard.

"Halt AAT-647, you are out of placement! Return to you assigned position at once."

The Mane 6 exchanged looks of concern, when Spike stepped up to the radio

"Uh, sorry." He said, pinching his nose attempting to mimic the voice of a Battle Droid "We're umm… uh, just returning because… we need to speak to the commander…"

"You sound strange…"

"Just… my voice… thing… it's on the fritz."

"Oh. Well… let me see your clearance code?"

"Uhh…" Spike said, looking through storage compartments for data disks. All of them were written in aurebesh! He couldn't read that! "No…"

Twilight aimed the main cannon toward the barricades ahead.

"I need to see i- what are you doing?" The Droid asked nervously, before Twilight blew apart the barricade ahead.

"WHAT THE?! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" He exclaimed as Twilight popped open the top hatch "HEY! Your not a droid! Get do-AHH!" The droid was cut off as the tank suddenly moved forwards and rammed him and his comrades down before continuing ahead.

"So much for a low profile!" Spike said

"Now where's the fun in that?" Rainbow Dash replied as the tank moved along the final stretch of road ahead, right up to the castle.

Across from their street on the other side of the castle, Twilight could make out Shining Armor's forces.

Sunburst's screaming halted as the EV Droid stopped the torture. TF-1726 grabbed Sunburst's face again

"Speak now. Tell me the purpose of the Crystal Heart and how we can utilize it. A B1 walked up to TF-1726 again.

"Sir! The equines have breached our mid range defenses and are right outside the castle.

TF-1726 turned quickly to face the Droid.

"Your failure to defend is Unacceptable!" He turned back to face Sunburst "if I cannot have the information then you will be terminated, and we will destroy the Crystal Heart."

Sunburst eyes widened

"You can't! You'll destroy this entire place!" He blurred out, before snapping his mouth shut and sucking in his lips, but it was to late, he'd said to much.

"Destroying the Heart will destroy this location?"

Sunburst didn't see any reason to lie anymore. He'd spilled the beans.

"Yes…" he sighed "the love from the Crystal Heart not only protects us from evil, but it also prevents the Crystal Empire from being buried in a blizzard! But you can't! There are still innocent ponies in the city!"

"I don't care! They too will die for their allegiance!" TF-1726 replied

"Your a horrid monster!"

"I'm a war tactician, I'm not programmed for empathy. But I will oblige my promise to end your suffering" TF-1726 continued, retrieving a nearby E-5 and pointing it at Sunburst's face, before pulling the trigger.

He walked out of the room and into the Throne room. It was time to test how much snow these equines could take. He would pull a victory out of this defeat, no matter what.

"We will retrieve the Crystalline formation at the base of the castle. Set explosives around the castle. We will bring the building down on them." He ordered to a squad of BX Commando Droids and his 2 Droideka guards.

Shining Armor and Princess Cadance slowly pushed forwards with the Guards ponies, with Shining blocking attacks while Cadance fired with her Alicorn magic.

Eventually only 2 of the enemies remained: 2 AATs.

"How are we going to take them out?" Cadance shouted "their armor is too thick for me to get through!"

"I'll think of something!" Shining said, blocking another AAT's shot with his magic. By this point, the AATs realized they couldn't hurt them. At least not alone. The main chassis of the tanks turned to face the other Guardsponies, before a series of loud booms were hear as the tanks launched anti-personal missiles at them, killing many of them.

"Any time now Shining!" Cadance said, as another AAT tank began to appear behind the other 2.

Suddenly, the 3rd AAT's Turret rotated and fired a shot at the rear power converters of the other AAT, causing it to drop to the ground and explode.

An OOM Commander popped its head out of the other tank's hatch.

"What are you doing?! Friendly fire!" It shouted, before its tank was destroyed as well.

Shining and Cadance's jaws dropped as the 3rd Tanks hatch opened up, revealing Twilight Sparkle

"Twilight!?" They both said in unison.

"Yep!" She said "you didn't think I'd bail on my BBBFF did you?

The back of the captured AAT opened and the rest of the Elements stepped out.

"Shame we can't fit this thing inside the castle, it would be a blast!" Dash said.

The castle door behind them opened, and out stepped 8 BX Series Commando Droids followed by a Green and Tan Tactical Droid and 2 Droidekas.

"I must give you equines credit, your strategy is impressive, even by my standards."

"Can it metalhead!" You killed a lot of ponies today, and now your going to pay for it." Dash shouted, darting through the air towards TF-1726

"No Dash! No!" Twilight shouted as the Commando Droids fired a series of shots at her, knocking her out of the air.

Dash groaned, struggling to get up.

"Surrender, and Celestia may be merciful!" Twilight said, spreading her wings and pointing her horn at TF-1726 and his Droids.

TF-1726 didn't even flinch at this, and his Commando Droids simply raised their weaponry at them.

"Negative, it is you who shall surrender, you have lost." He said, retrieving the Crystal Heart from its pedestal and holding it under his arm with his Blaster pointed at it, as if holding it hostage.

"Don't!" Twilight shouted

TF-1726 walked backward carrying the Crystal Heart, nearing one of the castles exits.

"Open fire!" He ordered to his Droids, who quickily did as they were told and let out a storm of Blaster fire.

Twilight, Cadance and Shining deflected their shots, before using their telekinesis to pull the blasters from the Commando Droids hands. This left only the Droideka's attacks to block. The now disarmed Droids charged towards them, preparing to brawl in hoof-hand combat. This turned out to be a terrible idea, as Applejack dealt with most of them quite easily with her kicks, and Pinkie Pie delivering a frenzy of spinning swipes, severing a Commando Droid in two and destroying another completely. This left only 2 of them left. However, these two were smarter. Instead of charging, they backed up and stood next to the two Droidekas. The 2 deadly Droids got back to back, protecting them from being flanked, and their shields blocking magic attacks.

"Charge!" Shining ordered to his ponies, hoping to overwhelm to 2 Droids with too many targets at close range.

Various guard ponies attempted to stab through their shields with the spears before having their spears yanked from their grasp by the Commando Droids.

The Commando Droids began to brutally beat the attacking Guardsponies with their own spears, breaking some of them over their heads and impaling others, before they were eventually defeated by the Unicorn Guardsponies magic attacks.

The Unicorn Guardsponies launched their spears at the Droidekas with the Magic, only for them to harmlessly bounce off their shields.

"Their force fields seem to deflect fast moving objects!"

Twilight shouted

Dash slowly floated overtop of the Droidekas, unbeknownst to them, before slowly descending between the backsides of them, slipping through their defense shield and delivering kicks to each Droideka, knocking them forwards and off balance.

The 2 Droids slammed down head first in the ground, and let of several sparks as they picked themselves up.

Suddenly, their shields flickered and fizzled out, leaving them exposed"

"Their shields are down! Unicorns, now!" Shining called, focusing his magic with his fellow Guardsponies on the Droidekas.

Without their shields, the Droidekas were quickily destroyed.

They all breathed a sigh of relief, before suddenly remembering that the tactical droid had escaped!

"Oh no!" Twilight shouted, "their boss! He got away!"

"Not for long!" Dash said, racing high into the air and scanning the area for the droid, followed by Twilight

Dash spotted the droid a few streets over, attempting to right a crashed STAP speeder.

Dash zoomed down towards TF-1726, swiping the Crystal Heart from his hand in a split second.

"What…" he simply said, before a purple aura appeared around him, followed by a white flash.

He was confused, now he was back at the castle again! Surrounded by his enemies! This location did not match! He calculated every possible way he could have traveled that distance in that time, it wasn't possible!"

"Does not compute!" He began shouting, raising his Blaster to defend himself, before it was snatched away by Rarity's magic.

Suddenly a lasso landed around his neck, and he was yanked backwards, falling down on the ground, followed by Applejack standing over top of him.

"No! Does not compute!" He continued

"Can it ya coward!" She said, placing her hoof on his chest to stop him from getting up.

"Negative equine, I do not take orders from you." He replied "All units withdraw to landing craft. Your mission is a failure." He said, evidently talking through his radio.

"Ah said shut before ah buck you into next week!"

"I am programmed to resist intimidation."

"Thanks Applejack, I'll take it from here" Twilight said, walking up to the downed tactical droid, before levitating him in the air with her magic.

"Lets try this again, I am Princess Twilight Sparkle, leader of the Elements of Harmony, and I order you to surrender to Equestria!"

"Negative."

Twilight sighed

"Then we'll have to do this the hard way"

TF-1726 placed his right hand over his left wrist, clearly displaying a wristband which had 3 red buttons.

"Correct Princess, now I order you to surrender, or else I will detonate charges and collapse the castle down on us. If you attempt to flee, I will detonate the charges. You are now on my terms."

"You can't be serious, you'll die too!"

"Yes, but that is a sacrifice I am willing to make for the advance of the Confederacy. It is my programming."

Twilight had to give TF-1726 credit, he was brave, and he was a smart planner.

"Your bluffing!" Said Rainbow Dash, flying in and placing the Crystal Heart back on its pedestal.

"Allow me to demonstrate." He said, pressing one of the buttons.

There was a beep and a small explosion on one of the castles arches, creating a large crack in the crystals that held it up.

"I do not bluff" he explained "However I calculate an 88% probability that you will not kill me because of the data I possess."

Twilight had to think of a way to outsmart this Droid.

"Comeon think Twilight think!" She said to herself in her head. Then she had an idea...

"Your right, I won't kill you." She said, and the droid tilted its head, as of giving off a smug look. Twilight closed her eyes. She needed to be quick with this, she couldn't fail. She focused her magic on the Tactical Droid itself, and then on its left arm. A bead of sweat trickled down her forehead as she suddenly tore her magic bubble in two, with one carrying the Tactical Droid, and the other his now severed left arm.

"Aaaaaahh" the droid moaned in its monotone, clearly feeling some pain as it twitches, several sparks leaping out of his exposed wiring.

"Nice way to DIS-arm him Twilight!" Pinkie Pie said, laughing

TF-1726 was humiliated. Outsmarted by equines with a fraction of his intellegencd! Then he noticed something out of the corner of his vision. A small black and bronze shape sliding across the ground behind them.

It was the top torso of a Commando Droid, its legs were severed, but it was still functional, crawling slowly towards a Blaster.

"Your coming with us now" Twilight said

There was the sound of a Blaster being primed, and everyone's eyes went wide as the sound of a Blaster bolt being fired was heard. The ponies all turned in shock to see a single red Blaster bolt racing towards the Crystal Heart, before making contact, and shattering it into thousands of pieces.

Everyone gasped… except the 2 Droids.

Twilight was so shocked, that she accidentally dropped TF-1726 from her grip.

The tactical droid backhandedded her across the face with his right hand, before bending over to pick up his arm.

Twilight and the rest of the Mane 6 all turned to face TF-1726, who now stood facing them holding his severed left arm in his right hand, with his index finger over one of the detonation buttons, letting out a small mechanical laugh.

"You may have won the battle, but you have lost in the end" he said, pressing the button…


	28. Chapter 28: The Storm

Chapter 28: The Storm

TF-1726 immediately turned around and began to speed-walk as fast as he could away from the castle, although it appeared to be little more than a slight hobble.

There was a tremendous boom and the ground shook, as the charges above in the castle and on its supports detonated, and large chunks of crystals began to fall.

Shiny and Cadance touched their horns together, and combined their magic to hold the castle in place from falling.

"Twily… Cadance... go!" Shining said, straining to keep the castle suspended in the air.

"I can't leave you!" Cadance said, also straining to hold the Castle up

"Flurry Heart needs her mother! Go! Get out of here!" He shouted, as the Guardsponies began to retreat from under the crumbling castle.

"No! I love you and I won't leave you!" She protested

"Go!" Shining yelled to Cadance, pushing her away

Cadance began to cry and did as she was told, being followed by the Elements of Harmony.

"I can't leave my big brother in there!" Twilight said, as the the castle began to crumble more rapidly, before Shining's magic gave out, causing the remains of the castle to fall, burying him under a pile of rubble. There was no possible way he survived.

Twilight and Cadance began to cry, mourning the loss of Shining Armor.

The two embraced each other in a hug as they hung their heads over their shoulders.

"I'm so sorry…" Cadance said, just before she spotted the Tactical Droid TF-1726 out of the corner of her eye, her sadness quickly turning to pure rage. She enveloped him in a magic hold and pulled him towards her.

"That was my husband you sick trashcan!" She shouted, proceeding to smack him across the face several times with her forehoof.

"Victory… so close…" he said, his head twitching as a spark flew from his neck.

She smacked him once more, and his head severed from his body, bouncing across the Crystal road.

His decapitated body began to twitch as Cadance stood up, breathing heavily.

"I'm not programmed to feel hatred, but... I feel it anyway." the droid said, as it's severed head came to a halt in front of Twilight.

She levitated the head to her face, its eyes flickering, still clearly active to some degree.

"N-n-not you again" he stuttered, his speech glitching.

"That was my big brother!" She shouted

"I can he-e-ear you-u. Cease shoutiiiinngg…" he droned on his monotone voice, as more sparks flew from his head.

There was the crack of thunder, and they all looked to the sky to see a massive blizzard approaching.

"We need to get out of here, there's nothing we can do for the Crystal Empire now that the heart is destroyed and buried under the rubble. If we don't get out of here soon, we'll be buried under the ice and snow!"

There was a loud rumble as the various C-9799 Landing Craft lifting off and taking flight, retreating to some other location the Droids had captured for safety.

"It seems that even in your victory… that I still win." TF-1726's head said slowly.

"Shut it" Twilight said, handing TF-1726's severed, yet still active head to Spike "we'll take him back for investigation, someone grab his body."

"I calculate that you will not be able to evacuate the entire city in time. Victory… loss does not compute…"

"Shut up!" Spike shouted "or I'll fry your circuits with my breath!"

"I told you I am programmed to re-re-resist intimidation."

Applejack finished folding the Tactical Droids decapitated body up, tying it and its severed arm over her back.

Cadance turned to the remaining Guardsponies

"Ensure that all the ponies in the empire are evacuated safely, no one gets left behind."

"Yes your majesty!"

Twilight began walking towards the trainstation

"Come on everypony, we need to get out of here before it's too late."

Back in the Throne Room at Canterlot, which had since been turned almost into a strategy and briefing room, Celestia and Luna stood over a map of Equestria.

Suddenly there was a loud poof sound and a flash of

Magic. The two sisters turned to see Starlight Glimmer and Trixie on the ground behind them, looking exhausted and beaten on the floor. The two royal sisters rushed over to help their subjects up

"OW! Put me down!" Starlight cried, as Luna placed her back on the floor with her magic.

"What hast happened? Art thou alright?" Luna asked concerned

"The machines took Manehattan" Trixie said "we need to get Starlight medical attention immediately, her legs were injured in the battle."

Celestia nodded and 2 guards set off for the palaces medical rooms carrying Starlighth on their backs.

"What of the townsponies in Manehattan? Were they able to escape?" Celestia asked

"Some of them, we tried to hold them off as long as we could" Trixie said "I'm sorry…"

"It is alright, you tried your hardest and that is what matters. Get some rest my subject" Celestia said, turning to Luna. "It's become apparent that we must enlist help from others in Equestria to win this conflict. I will have to contact Discord and the Changelings, only together can we defeat them."

"Indeed sister"

Suddenly there was a magic flash and Discord appeared.

"Hello Tia did you say my name?" He said

"Indeed she did" Luna said "art thou aware of the conflict that hast occurred between Equestria and the Confederacy?"

"Oh! Yes!" He said, summoning 3D classes and popcorn "it's wonderfully chaotic, interesting to watch, I just wish there wasn't so much death… it's a little cleché for war, and excessive."

The 2 sisters glared at him

"I'm sorry is my enjoyment in poor taste?" He asked

"Yes!" They both said sternly

"Our subjects are dying, and your sitting around watching it as if it's some Manehattan broadway performance!" Celestia said, clearly agitated by Discord.

"Oh, well excuse me for enjoying chaos!" Discord said "it's only my middle name!"

"I thought you middle name was P?"

"It is my dear I'm just messing with you."

"I need you to listen!"

"I'm all ears!" He said, literally turning into a giant ear.

Celestia sighed and took a deep breath

"We need you to help us defeat the machines! I know you enjoy chaos, but we have actual work to do Discord." She said.

"Okay…"

"You are free to use your magic against them to your full abilities."

Discord grinned widely

"So… I can enact total chaos on them?"

Celestia sighed

"Yes, but only them! No chaos on Equestria or any ponies, understand?"

"Yes Tia!" Discord said "I hear you. I will aid Equestria and cause chaos on the machines from the sky." He said in a mocking tone.

"Thank you Discord."

"Although to be honest I probably would've gotten involved sooner or later, because if they hurt Fluttershy-"

"I believe they did, Discord, when she was here last with the rest of the Elements she had her wing bandaged."

"Oh…" he said, his eyes narrowing "then its personal" he continued, his eyes flashing red, before he disappeared in a white flash.

Luna smiled

"There may be hope for us yet sister."

Kraken sat in his chair running calculations. Manehattan, the Crystal Empire and the settlement of Appleloosa had all fallen according to plan. By his calculations the probability of the planetary invasion being a success was 84.8%. He also calculated that at the current speed, the planet would fall within the week.

"Sir! Incoming transmission from Admiral TF-1726!" A B1 shouted

"Play it" he replied in his deep monotone.

The screen in front of him instead of protraying a picture, instead prorated a mere line, which waved as the transmission played.

"This is TF-1726. If you are receiving this prerecorded message then I have failed to defend the Crystal Empire and have been captured by the Equines." Came his voice in its slow monotone.

Kraken didn't say anything. He wasn't sure if he should attempt a rescue operation or not. TF-1726 was one of his capable commanders, and he needed one to help lead the invasion forces. However, this could always wait. There was also the risk of information being retrieved from him, but Kraken was not particularly worried about that. Even though the T-Series Tactical Droids were inferior to Super Tactical Droids like him, they were still very hard to interrogate. If the memory core was accessed without permission, then the whole data storage system would corrupt, essentially rendering the droid useless.

"This is unfortunate." He finally said, standing up and walking forwards to gaze out the front window. "He is one of my capable commanders."

The Crystal Empire may have been recaptured by the Equines, but there appeared to be a massive amount of storms forming around it.

There was a white flash and a poof sound behind Kraken…


	29. Chapter 29: Of Chaos and Cold

Chapter 29: Of Chaos and Cold

Kraken turned to face the sound, to see Discord sitting in his command chair.

"IDENTIFY YOURSELF IMMEDIATELY." Kraken said, raising his voice volume significantly.

All of the B1 Pilots turned to see what the normally calm monotone Kraken was yelling about, and several Red Security B1s rushed to protect their commander.

"Hello! Hello! I'm Discord, and who might you be?"

"You are unauthorized to be on this ship, arrest him!" Kraken ordered to the Droids.

Discord laughed and snapped his fingers. Suddenly he was behind Kraken, and placed arm around his neck and leaned on him sipping a glass of chocolate milk, or more accurately, drinking the glass itself.

"Your too funny, I'm going to enjoy this!"

"This does not make sense!" Kraken said, attempting to pull Discord off of him

"As I once said, what fun in there in making any sense?" Discord replied, before suddenly flipping gravity in the room causing Kraken and all the other Droids to slam against the ceiling, while Discord still remained on the floor.

"You can get a nice view of the Chaos from up there!" He said laughing.

Kraken and the Droids stood up, standing upside down on the ceiling before they were suddenly dropped to the floor again.

"Or do you want lower seats?"

"Ugh… stop!" A B1 droid cried out, before all his limbs detached and then reattached in the wrong places. The droid fell to the ground, his legs attached to his shoulders and his arms to his hips.

"WHAT THE?!" The Droid shouted

"Enough of this!" Kraken said, standing up and drawing his E-5 from his hip, and firing it at Discord, only for the Blaster bolt to turn into water midair.

Kraken looked down at his Blaster, to discover it had turned into a squirt gun.

"WHAT…" he droned "WHAAT?"

The Security B1s began to blast him with their own blasters, only for him to teleport away, and their Blaster bolts to hit the Droids across from them. 4 of them fell to the floor with smoking holes in their chest plates.

"DOES… NOT… COMPUTE…" Kraken boomed, clutching his head in one of his hands as he tried to calculate what was happening.

"I know, but that's the fun!" Discord laughed "its chaos! It makes no sense!"

Kraken began to step towards him only for him to slip, along with several other B1s as the floor suddenly became covered in ice.

"What… are you?" Kraken asked again, struggling to stand up again and pointing at him.

Discord skated around him on ice skates wearing an orange suit and hat.

"Discord P. Sullivan, God of Chaos and Disharmony" he said bending over grabbing his hand and beginning to shake it rapidly as a he shocked Kraken with a palm zapper. "Although most call me just Discord." He said, tipping his hat "Arrivederci!" He said, before disappearing in a flash.

Kraken sat there dumbfounded, and several B1s fell down in disbelief.

"Maker help me this is no way to live!" Cried the mismatched B1 droid.

Kraken reached to his temple activating his radio.

"Cleaning crew to bridge room immediately." He said, before falling on his back once more, staring at the ceiling.

OOM-340 watched as TA-175 approached the Manehattan Capitol building on a Flitknot Speeder escorted by STAP Speeders.

He turned to face another B1

"Is everything ready for the commanders arrival?"

"Roger Roger"

"Are you sure the entire building is secure?"

"Roger Roger!"

"Good."

He stepped outside to greet TA-175 who was stepping off his speeder.

He saluted his commander and walked beside him as he stepped inside.

"The capitol had been completely secured sir, all the he ponies have been driven from the area!"

"Well done. I will see to it that you receive a promotion for your success."

OOM-340 felt happy. It had been a while since he was promoted. He was a sergeant, and with his promotion that made him a lieutenant!

"Thank you sir!"

TA-175 ignored his gratitude and continued

"What is the status on the rest of the city's capture?"

"The ponies and guards have been retreating and evacuating the city on a train bridge that connect the island to the mainlands, by tonight it will be secure!"

TA-175 stopped walking

"That timing is unacceptable! I want the city secure within the next 2 hours! Pursue the Ponies across the bridge to the mainland, ensure none escape."

"Roger Roger…" he said, disappointed as he stepped away to go lead his troops again.

Why couldn't he have been assigned a less active job? Like on a Separatist colony? Or maybe as a ship security officer? Or maybe something else entirely! Just about any other job would've been preferable to front line combat.

OOM-340 pushed open the back door of the building and stepped outside into the late sun, finding his battalion of fresh B1s and B2s read, along with 3 AATs.

"Prepare to move out!" He said, stepping into an AAT and taking a seat in the Commander's seat.

In the Crystal Empire, conditions had severely worsened over the hours. The temperature had dropped almost 60 degrees, and snow was beginning to pile up heavily as the blizzard worsened.

The Mane 6 neared the train station, battered and beaten, shivering as they walked through the desolate streets of the once lively Crystal Empire.

Twilights tears had frozen on her face, and no one spoke until she broke the silence.

"How much farther to the trainstation?" She asked Cadance

"Not much farther… only about 2-3 more blocks…"

She paused

"I'm sorry about Shining…" Cadance continued "it should've been me who stayed behind to hold up the castle."

"Don't say that…" Twilight said "he did it because he loved you."

The group pressed on, as they walked up the frozen steps to the trainstation

One guardpony remained at the entrance, who opened the door to let them in.

"Is the empire cleared?" Cadance shouted over the howling wind.

"Yes your highness!" The guard shouted "the last train is about to depart, its waiting for you!"

The Mane 6 stepped inside.

Inside the train station was a mess. Pieces of paper, tickets and the like were scattered all over the floor, along with abandoned luggage and suitcases. It was evident that they had tried to evacuate in a hurry. But the worst sight was what Twilight could only assume was dried blood on the floor, along with abandoned Guards armor.

The group stepped out onto the platform, and from there into the battered Friendship Express, which was covered in Blaster scorch marks and scrapes.

The inside of the train car was also chaotic, as there were numerous ponies, colts, fillies and foals inside, many of them having to sit in the floor due to lack of seats. The Mane 6 managed to squeeze in the back of the car and the door closed.

There was a jolt as the train started moving, as it departed from the Crystal Empire.

Twilight gazed out the window, beginning to cry once more as she began to truly grasp that she would never see her brother Shining Armor again. Cadance soon joined her, and they mourned their loss together while the rest of the Mane 6 tried to recover from the battle

"I'll miss you… big brother… my best friend forever…"


	30. Chapter 30: Pursuit

Chapter 30: Pursuit

OOM-340 sat in the Turret of his AAT, watching as his battalion of Droids slowly marched towards Manehattan train suspension bridge.

"Come on! The commander wants the city secured by this evening!" He yelled, hoping they would quicken their pace.

OOM-340 began to wonder how the rest of the invasion effort was going. As for how he'd know, he didn't, because no one told him anything.

There was a whoosh sound above him and he looked up to see several of the blue and yellow uniformed Pegasi from earlier fly over, several of them dropping rocks on the Droids below.

"That's it, no one throws rocks at us and he's away with it! Charge!" He yelled to his Droids, who began to increase their speed from a slow clanking march to rapid thunderous clanking as they began to full on run towards the station. From what he could see from that distance, ponies stood outside and began to take up defensive positions, yelling out commands to each other that OOM-340 couldn't hear over the sound of his own troops marching.

He pulled out his macrobinoculars and looked threw them to get a better view.

They seemed to have positioned catapults and Cannons to defend the train station and bridge. They would be effective against his infantry, but he had a tank, and could very likely one-shot them each. They also had a large amount of remaining Guardsponies and police ponies in position, along with what seemed to be makeshift militia, wearing only heavy clothing and wielding spears, construction tools or nothing at all.

He lowered his macrobinoculars and activated his radio

"All units, charge! Eliminate all of the equines defending the train station!"

OOM-340 sat down in the chair fully, closed the hatch and looked through the Turrets sights. Swiveling the main cannon with the foot pedals, he took aim at a cannon, and fired.

There was the loud boom of the tanks primary cannon firing, and one of the Equestrian cannons, along with several nearby ponies, was destroyed.

OOM-340 began to hum as he began to fire on other nearby Cannons. It was actually a lot of fun when they wouldn't hit him!

He tanks radio buzzed in, and the voice of another B1 came through.

"Something's banging on my hatch! Wait… wha… what's this thi-" there was suddenly static, and the sound of an explosion outside.

Suddenly there was a thud on the top of the tanks hatch, and the dent of 4 hooves became visible, before it was pried open and light flooded the dark compartment

He looked up quickly to see one of the uniformed Pegasi who grabbed him by his shoulders, pulled him out of the chair, and put onto the top of the turret. The Pegasi was yellow with an orange Mane and tail

"See you sucker!" She said, kicking him off the tank and dropping a lit bundle of fireworks and other explosives inside the command hatch.

OOM-340 hit the ground with a thud, and the Pegasi flew off as the tank exploded. This left only one AAT left.

"Aw, now I got to walk!" He said, standing up and retrieving his Blaster from his back, and moving to help his troops advance.

His troops had steadily been advancing, as OOM-340 ran to command his troops at the front, he noticed the dead Guardsponies and Droids that littered the ground.

His radio buzzed in again as he came to a stop behind a squad of B2s and a B2-HA.

"Do not the train escape the city. Destroy it if necessary." TA-175 ordered

"Roger Roger!" He said, walking up crouching down beside his fellow Droids, letting off Blaster shots and killing various Guardsponies as they advanced.

"Die equines!" A B2 said in its deep voice as it picked up one of the militia ponies, and blasted it directly in the face.

There was less that 25 feet between them and the stairs to the trainstation, when the ground shook and a large amount of rock shards flew everywhere, knocking OOM-340 many other Droids down, and destroying others.

OOM-340 picked himself up to see that the Catapults had started firing large rocks and boulders at them, in an effort to destroy the advancing squads of Droid that had clustered together.

He tapped the shoulder of the B2-HA, who turned and looked down at its shorter, thinner and frailer brother.

OOM-340 was mildly intimidated by his larger B2 brother, but continued with his plan.

"Destroy the catapults, they are taking out our squads!"

The large droid paused for a moment before uttering

"Roger Roger." and raising its right arm, and launching rockets at the catapults.

The catapults exploded into chunks and shards of wood as the purple rockets hit them, completely and totally destroying them.

"Huh. That was easier than I thought! Nice shot!" He said to the B2, nudging it with his elbow only to notice that it had simply moved on and did not care for his compliment.

"Stupid brutes…" he muttered "why do I even bother…", shaking his head and aiming his Blaster to continue walking forwards once more.

OOM-340 walked up the stairs to the trainstation, with his Droids following him.

He pounded on the door to the entrance, but there was predictably no response.

"Separatist Authorities! Open up!"

There was again no reply.

"Open the door." He ordered to a B2, who simply punched the door down with his metal fists, and opened fire on the ponies inside.

OOM-340 face palmed

"I was gonna give them a chance to surrender…"

He walked inside the train station, and raised his hand to signal them to stop firing.

"Surrender ponies!" He said to Guards who backed against the the train while it prepared to leave.

"Never! As long as I live I will stand and defend Equestria!" Replied a Guardspony.

"Give up!"

"I swore to protect Equestria, and I will!"

OOM-340 simply shot the guard dead with his Blaster.

"Anyone else wanna have a strike of patriotism?"

The others glared at them, showing their teeth in an attempt to look fierce as they fired magic blasts at the B2s up front, before they were gunned down instantly. There was a hiss and the train began to move away from the station.

"Oh no! They got away!" OOM-340 cried out

The B2-HA stepped up

"Not. Likely." He simply stated, and fired a rocket at the locomotive. There was a loud explosion and screeching as the trains left set of drive wheels were blown off, and as it derailed on the bridge, the engine falling into the river below along with 2 passenger cars.

"Capture them!" OOM-340 ordered, as they walked towards the wrecked train.

Back in Canterlot, the Mane 6 and Princess Cadance returned from the Crystal Empire, and headed to the Throne Room. Twilight and Cadance had started to calm down from the initial shock of Shinings death, and were ready to talk to Celestia and Luna about what happened.

Twilight opened the throne room door with her magic and they stepped in.

Celestia, Luna, and several royal Guardsponies were gathered around a map of Equestria, similar to the Cutie Map.

"Greetings Princesses…" Twilight said sadly "we're back"

"You seem troubled Twilight, is there something wrong?"

Celestia asked.

Cadance looked up

"Shining Armor… he…" she began to cry again

"He didn't make it" Twilight finished for her.

Celestia and Luna both were visibly saddened by this, and hugged Twilight and Cadance.

"We are sorry to hear of this" Luna said

Spike cleared his throat and wheeled in a table which had the Tactical Droid's body, head and severed left arm sitting on it, partially tied down.

"What is that Spike?" Celestia asked, as she stepped over to examine the partially disassembled Droid.

"It seemed to be the one in charge, almost like their king."

"Hmm…" Celestia said "yes, it does appear to be different than all of the others I've seen. However, it doesn't seem to match the one that called itself Kraken"

"Maybe it's some kind of… captain? Or officer maybe?" Spike suggested

"Good thinking Spike, does it still work?"

"Last time I checked, it did."

Spike picked up its head and shook it. There was a slight sparking from its neck cables, and its photoreceptors flickered on for a second, before flickering back out. Spike placed the head on the table.

"Cannot… see… cannot… move." TF-1726's head spoke in its monotone.

Spike lightly pounded the side of the head, and its photoreceptors flashed on again, lighting up their usual white color.

"Not the E-Equines again…" his head spoke.

Celestia bent down and looked the TF-1726 in the eye.

"My name is Princess Celestia, and this is my sister Princess Luna. We'd like to ask you some questions. Do you understand?"

Celestia thought she would try to be hospitable to their prisoner, as it was the proper thing to do, and at least show some compassion. Perhaps it would be more willing to cooperate.

"No…"

"Why not?"

"You are my enemy…" he replied

"Can we atleast have conversation? That's all I'm asking." She said, smiling, hoping to try and appeal to it.

"You want to interrogate me-e-ee." He spoke, glitching again.

The droid was smart, able to see through Celestia's caring demeanor to her true intent.

Dash flew over

"Listen here you little clanker, when Princess Celestia wants to know something you better tell her or I'll-AH"

Dash was suddenly yanked back by Applejack, who grabbed her by her tail with her mouth.

"Rainbow Dash! Mind yer manners!" Applejack scolded.

Celestia continued

"Can you at least tell me your name"

"Designation is T-Series Tactical Droid TF-1726…"

"No, tell us thous name" Luna clarified.

"TF-1726, T-Series Tactical Dr-roid."

"Okay…" Celestia replied "Can I just call you TF?"

"It does not matter. You are my enemy."

"Alright. If you just cooperate, maybe we can bring this war to a quicker end. Won't that be good?"

"It doesn't matter, as long as victory is assured."

"Luna would you like to have a try?"

Luna took in a deep breath, preparing to use The Royal Canterlot Voice

"THOU MUST TELL US ALL OF THOU'S SECRET"

"I have informed you equines several times, I am programmes to resist intimidation. TF-1726's head replied.

"Then we must do this the hard way sister." Luna said, as her horn began to glow along with Celestia's.

"No… no…" TF-1726 began to shout in his monotone.

The 2 royal sisters closed their eyes, and a beam of magic from both of their horns joined before arching into his head.

The droid began to shout gibberish before lettign out a sound of distress

"A-AA-AH"

Suddenly his eyes flashed red and the sound of static and various glitches was heard before his the lights in eyes and mouth shut off, and he became silent.

Celestia and Luna opened their eyes and looked at each other.

"What happened?" Twilight asked

"I'm not sure Twilight, it seems it… locked it memory to prevent us from gaining access with our magic."

"What do we do now?"

"I'm not sure, we'll have to see if there is any sort of spell in our library to get around it" Celestia said.

Back on on board the Providence Carrier 'Enforcement', clean up crews had finally fixed all the damage caused by Discord's magic.

In addition to this, Kraken had also ordered 4 Magnaguards, and 8 Commando Droids to the bridge to act as additional security.

Kraken sat in his command chair, examining all of the data logs his armies had created and sent him during their time in Equestria. He was looking for one file in particular, one on Discord.

He only found one result, an audio log from OOM-340, recorded a few days earlier before the war broke out. Kraken hit play on the recording

"That's so strange, I can't believe we have the same alphabet!"The voice of pony which Kraken recognized as Twilight Sparkle . "I thought it was fascinating that that we could understand each other too! The odds of this are crazy! Maybe you are one of Discords creations."

"Discord?" OOM-340's voice asked

"Discord is the God of Chaos, likes being wacky, silly, and chaotic. He once main it rain chocolate rain from

Cotton candy clouds!"

That was all the transmission said.

Kraken was mildly frustrated, he already knew basically all of that. It was too vague!

He was thinking what to do when an alert beeped on the display screen.

Kraken looked up to face it.

'T-SERIES TACTICAL DROID UNIT TF-1726 HAS ENTERED MEMORY LOCK DOWN AND HAS CEASED OPERATION. IF FURTHER ROBOLABOTAMY IS ATTEMPTED THE UNIT WILL PERFORM A MEMORY WIPE. DO YOU WISH TO DO SO NOW?'

[Yes] [No]

Kraken clicked no. He was already on an extremely limited number of capable commanders, and Tactical Droids as is. He only had 3, in addition to himself, but he needed to remain in orbit to oversee the fleet's operation. He couldn't risk the destruction of a Tactical Droid, especially one as experienced as TF-1726.

Kraken facepalmed at his subordinates arrogance that allowed this to happen. Now he had 2 major issues to deal with. They would need to perform a rescue mission once again, an incredibly dangerous one at that, along with how strange it was the for Separatists to rescue droids to begin with.

TF-1726's head corresponded to coordinates that placed in the Canterlot Castle, the Equestrian capital. He would need heavy firepower to get in.

He calculated that that Squadrons of Vulture Droids and Droid Gunships could escort a Sheathipede Class Shuttle to rescue TF-1726.

All they needed was his head, but they could return him to full functionality if they had his body as well.

However, once they got inside the Castle, the Princesses would likely destroy any forces they dispatched easily with their magic. Deploying a huge army would be efficient, as they would need to be quick and they would have to sacrifice other forces elsewhere.

Kraken continued to calculate…


	31. Chapter 31: Fire to Fillydelphia

Chapter 31: Fire to Fillydelphia

Night began to fall as OOM-340 oversaw the rounding up of prisoners from the train in Manehattan.

Ponies of various ages, genders and types marched across the bridge towards the droid occupied city, being prodded and pushed along by various Battle Droids. All of them shared the same expressions of fear, sadness and hopelessness.

His radio buzzed in and TA-175 spoke.

"Lieutenant, the next city on our list of priorities is the City of Fillydelphia. You are to escort MTTs through the city and capture it. You will have support from Hyena Class Bombers. Burn through the brush that stands between the city and us. The task should be completed by morning. Destroy the city if necessary. Do NOT fail me." He said in his monotone

"Roger roger!" He replied, turning to see a line of 4 MTT's, 8 AATs, and a DDT, also known more commonly as a Defoliator Tank.

OOM-340 began to chuckle evilly as he walked towards his new convoy.

OOM-340's convoy neared the city of Fillydelphia, its tall buildings appearing in the distance lit up night sky.

The retreating Equestrian forces had created barricades on the way to the city, placing many fallen trees, large boulders, abandoned carriages and pieces of farm equipment along the main road to slow process. OOM-340 ordered his troops to take a route across the farms and fields to the city, as it would allow them to arrive more quickly. Squads of Droids marched ahead of the convoy, investigating the area head in the tall fields of crops and in the abandoned homesteads, ensuring there were no ambushes prepared.

The convoy neared a large, seemingly infinite cornfield.

OOM-340 peered through his macrobinoculars from the command hatch in the Defoliator Tank, located directly under the cannon.

He switched on the night vision mode, and the environment was illuminated by a bright green hue.

The cornfield ahead was talk and densely packed, but the tanks should be able to push through it easily. However, that wasn't his concern. What was his concern was whether or not guards ponies were hiding in it.

"Squads 1 and 2, investigate the cornfield. Annihilate any resistance encountered."

A loud series of Roger Rogers came in response from the droids, who began to march into the field.

There was silence apart from the droids mechanical feet marching across the dirt, before the sound of B1s yelling and blasters being fired was heard before most of it fell silent.

He lowered his macrobinoculars and turned to the gunner.

"Fire the defoliator." He ordered

"Roger roger!" Replied the gunner, before he began to laugh evilly, pressing buttons and aiming the cannon upwards.

There was a loud boom and the tank shook as the cannon fired the shell. The shell arched through the air, leaving a white trail behind it. The shell landed in the middle of the field, and exploded. Immediately, fire began to spread rapidly, as the corn stalks and all the ponies waiting in them burned and turned to ash.

Screams rang through the air and guards ponies ran out of the field, many on fire, only to be blown away by tanks and other battle droids.

There was silence again for a moment aside from the crackling of the fire as it burned away at the field, clearing a path.

"Nice shot…" he said, before pointing his hand to signal them to begin moving forwards, to the edge of the city to begin their late night assault…

Night fell in Canterlot as it did everywhere else in Equestria, but the halls and rooms of the Canterlot Castle were still lit by Candlelight, especially the Throne Room.

Inside the Mane 6 and the Princesses stood around the map if Equestria. Manehattan, and the Crystal Empire had been crossed off with big red X's Signalling their fall to the droids.

The doors of the Canterlot Castle's throne room opened, and a single guard stepped inside.

He bowed before the Princesses, his body lit up by the candles revealing his identity of Flash Sentry.

"My Princesses, Appleloosa and Rockville have fallen. We were able to evacuate most of the residents of Rockville, but Appleloosa was completely destroyed… along with most of its inhabitants.

Celestia and Luna nodded sadly and crossed the locations off on the map.

Applejack spoke up, a feeling of severe worry in her voice as she asked the question she already knew the answer to.

"Did… did any of mah family make it out?"

Flash Sentry shook his head.

"No, but rest assured Braeburn and the others fought to the end. Their sacrifices held off the enemy long enough for Rockville's residents to evacuate. Braeburn, the residents of Appleloosa and the Buffalo tribes will be remembered as Equestrian heros."

Applejack closed her eyes and removed her hat, placing it against her chest as she silently wept (and cried internally) for her lost family.

"It has become apparent sister that this is not a war Equestria can win alone." Luna said

Celestia nodded in agreement

"I will write to Thorax and his Changelings, the Yaks and the Griffons for aid in this time of crisis." She said, walking over to her letter board and beginning to write with her quill.

Luna turned to Princess Cadance and the Mane 6.

"May I suggest that you get your rest, we will need you strong and well rested tomorrow."

They turned and left the throne room, embracing Applejack in hugs to comfort her as they went.

Celestia and Luna were left alone in their throne room, with only their silent royal guards for company.

Kraken walked through the door into the hanger bay, meeting with a group of 3 HMP Droid Gunships, which hovered nearby a Sheathipede Class Shuttle.

The HMP Droid Gunships were equipped with droid deployment racks in addition to their missile launchers, enabling them to act as dropships. 2 of the Gunships were equipped with B1 Squads, and the other was equipped with B2s.

Kraken turned to face a squad of BX-Series Commando Droids, led by a Captain.

"Are you prepared for your mission?" Kraken asked

"Yes Commander."

"State you mission orders" Kraken said, wanting to ensure they understood their vital mission.

"Orders are as follows. 1. Infiltrate Canterlot Castle. 2. Deploy droids as decoys. 3. Retrieve TF-1726. Are these orders correct?" The droid asked

"Affirmative Captain. Proceed to the shuttle and complete your mission" Kraken ordered

"Roger roger." the Commando droid said in its deep voice.

The squad walked up the shuttle's boarding ramp and the door closed behind them. There was a hum as the shuttle's engines came to life and it lifted off, being followed by the Gunships and 6 Vulture Droids as they whizzed through space towards the planet below. Kraken headed back to the bridge.

Gazing through his macrobinoculars, OOM-340 analyzed the defenses of Fillydelphia as his tank approached. Fillydelphia had obviously gain defensive information on the droids style of attack from retreating forces from Manehattan. All entrances had been barricaded, and the police force stood at the ready, along with what seemed to be small and medium sized dragons.

OOM-340 activated his radio

"Uh sir, I think we have a problem."

"State issue, Lieutenant." TA-175 replied

"Fillydelphia's seems to have some kind of local militia made up of Dragons"

"Impossible. The Dragon species was presumed completely eradicated when their nesting zones were destroyed"

"But… we had to have missed some! I'm looking at them right now! What should we do?"

"Proceed with the attack."

"Roger roger…" he said nervously and shut off his radio.

He pointed his left arm forwards

"Battalions 1 and 2, charge!"

The groups of B1s and B2s in front of his army began ti pick up speed as they sprinted towards the defended city.

Bright flashes lit up the scene as Unicorn Policeponies and Dragon Fire made contact with the droids, who's red blaster bolts accompanied the light show.

"We need to clear that barricade" OOM-340 reasoned, still gazing through his macrobinoculars. The barricade appeared to be build from carts, kiosks, furniture and sandbags, and was for the most part pretty flimsy put together.

If they could eliminate half the threat, they would have only half of the enemies to deal with.

Then he had an idea, something that battle droids very rarely have.

He turned to face the gunner of the defoliator tank, which he was still riding in.

"Fire the defoliator tank! We will burn through their barricades and police and blast those dragons to pieces!"

"Roger roger" the droid replied, as 2 B1s hoised a shell into the loading chamber.

The gunner began to press several buttons, angling the gun so the shell would hit the barricade precisely.

OOM-340 looked through his macrobinoculars once more, the first wave of droids was already have depleted.

"Hurry! Hurry!" He shouted

"Almost ready…" the gunner said, "okay… there! Ready!"

"Fire!" He shouted

There was a loud boom of the defoliator's cannon launchign the shell. The shell arched through the air before landing at the Fillydelphia barricade and exploding. The ring of fire typically produced by the shell was smaller, as when it hit the pavement the fire ran out of fuel to spread. However, the barricade (and all of the police ponies in it) were quickly incinerated as the fire consumed the barricade. All the nearby droids however, were unharmed, as the weapon had been specifically designed to do so.

Unfortunately, in addition to the droids being unharmed, the Dragons fireproof scales surged off the heat as well.

The dragons charged out, fire spewing from their mouth as they melted droids and tore them apart with their claws, almost as of they were cardboard.

"Where are those bombers when I need them!" OOM-340 grumbled and turned to the nearby tanks

"AATs 3&4, target those dragons! Maximum firepower!"

"Roger roger" the AAT Droids said "firing main cannons!"

The tanks began to pelt the dragons with shots, blowing many of the smaller ones apart entirely. The defense force began to retreat deeper into the city.

"Pursue!" OOM-340 ordered, before he lowered himself inside the defoliator tank before closing the hatch and opening the exit ramp.

"Uh, sir, where are you going?" The driver asked

"I'm going to supervise the battle personally. This tank is only good against organic targets, and the city's material won't burn easily."

OOM-340 stepped out of the tank and closed the exit ramp.

"Well, I guess I'm in charge now." The driver said to himself before lowering a periscope to his faceplate to aim the tank's side cannons.

Inside of the Canterlot Castle's many guest rooms, the Mane 6 settled in for the night. Spike, Applejack, Pinkie Pie,and Rarity,were fast asleep, but Dash, Fluttershy and Twilight still sat awake in their beds, staring at the high ceiling. Dash flipped through the pages of the latest Daring Doo book, before yawning and setting the book down to sleep.

Twilight sighed

"You can't sleep either?" Fluttershy asked

"No…" Twilight said, sniffling as she held a photograph of her and her with her brother as a filly in her hooves.

"Me neither, all that violence today has left me spooked, Im scared." Fluttershy said, before she took notice of the tears running down Twilight's cheek.

Fluttershy stepped out of bed and quietly walked over to Twilight and hugged her friend

"I'm so sorry about your brother" she said, remember her tragic loss.

Twilight sniffled again and wiped her tears.

"I can't… I can't believe he's gone." She closed her eyes to try and hold back the tears

"Its okay, let it out Twilight."

Twilight opened her eyes and began to cry quietly into her hooves and Fluttershy squeezed her in a hug, also shedding a few tears for their lost friend.

Suddenly there was a loud boom and the castle shook, and the rest of the sleeping mane 6 all jumping out of bed.

"What in Celestia's name was that?" Spike exclaimed

They rushed over to the window, where they saw a large smoking hole in the wall of the throne room, many of the stained glass windows shattered.

3 circular disk shaped objects leading a one of the droid's shuttles raced towards the hole, the 3 disks landing inside while the shuttle simply extended a ramp, several small shapes rushing inside the castle…


	32. Chapter 32: The Capture

Chapter 32: The Capture

The stained glass windows behind Princess Celestia and Princess Luna exploded into a million pieces along with chunks of stone as the HMP Droid Gunship's missiles smashed into the side of the throne room.

Guardsponies burst through the door ready to defend their princesses from the attack, as the 3 Droid gunships hovered into the large room, and began to deploy droids from the racks on their bottom.

The droid gunships angled their chin turrets and began to effortlessly mow down the guards, as a shuttle also approached, opened its doors and began extending its boarding ramp as a series of thin black figures with glowing white eyes became visible.

The sound of blaster fire filled the room.

"Go Princesses! Take the prisoner! We'll hold them off!" One guard shouted

Celestia and Luna sprinted for the door levitating TF-1726's body with them.

The sound of blaster fire grew louder as the door to the throne room was flung open by a group of B1 and B2 Battle Droids

"Look! There's the target! Get him!" One shouted

Celestia turned around for a moment to fire a beam of magic, cutting down the droids before continuing to run.

The Mane 6 all stepped out of their room, along with Cadence who was across the hall.

Guards rushed past to defend to the castle.

"What's happening?" Cadance asked a guard

"The castle is under attack! The enemy has launched an aerial attack on the throne room!" The guard shouted before continuing on his way.

Cadance and the Mane 6 ran after them to help defend the castle, running into Celestia and Luna in the hall.

"Princess Celestia!" Twilight exclaimed "are you alright?"

Celestia nodded, moments before an explosion was heard down the hall and the bodies of several guards flew across the room.

Around the corner corner out of the dark came the thin silhouettes of the Commando Droid Squad, only becoming illuminated in the moonlight once they stepped towards the windows.

"Look out!" Twilight shouted and fired a magic blast at the droids, only for them to evade the attack entirely as if it was nothing to them.

The droids charged them, leaping off of the walls and performing various acrobatics as they fired their blasters in a fury.

The Princesses began blocking their shots with their own magic, when Luna looked to Cadence

"Taketh the machine! We must unravel its secrets!"

Cadance nodded and began to run the other direction carrying TF-1726's body with her magic, as Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie followed.

The Commando droids began to concentrate their fire on Celestia, knowing that she couldn't block from all angles at once while they moved.

Luna and Celestia began to combine their magic to generate a protective bubble around themselves and Twilight, as Twilight shot through the bubble at the Commando Droids, hitting several and destroying them in a single hit each.

Rainbow Dash darted into one of the Commando droids, sending it flying out a window where it would inevitably meet its demise at the ground far below, before bucking another into one of its fellow droids.

The droid shoved its broken comrade off its body, setting its blaster to full auto and aimed it at Dash's chest for a kill shot, before a rope lassoed around its wrist and yanked, wrenching the blaster from its grip right as it fired. 5 shots burned through Dash's left wing, and she fell to ground injured but alive, Applejack's actions saving her from being killed.

The droid looked over to see Applejack gripping the rope in her mouth, before tossing the blaster away. Looking for another weapon to use, the droid reached down, grabbed the body of its destroyed ally and threw it at her. This proved to be a fatal mistake as Applejack bucked the droid body back at it, and the droid was sent sliding down the hall from the impact.

The droid began to slowly get up before a blue aura appeared around its neck, and its head was suddenly torn from its body.

Rarity winked at Applejack

"Thanks for the help!" She said, continuing to fight the other droids.

There were now only 3 Commando Droids left, one being the captain of the squad who carried an E-5C Heavy Blaster. The droids back together against the shattered window, as Celestia, Luna and Twilight charged attacks to destroy them.

Right as they fired, the droids jumped through the air, backflipping out of the shattered window.

"Did they just… kill themselves?!" Rarity exclaimed

The sound of a HMP Droid gunship engines was heard and the ship hovered up, revealing that the droids had landed on top of it as it flew away.

"After those fiends!" Luna shouted, before the sound of a B1's high pitched voice echoed through the hall

"Hey! Ponies! Blast em'!" The droid said as it led to the remaining garrison of its droids through the castle. Evidently the throne room guards had failed to stop them.

The group became engaged in combat once more…

Cadance, Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy stepped out of the castles front doors, being escorted by the guards they had found the way. A circular shadow from overhead was suddenly cast down on them. They looked up just in time for Cadance to raise a magic shield to block the laser blasts from the approaching Droid Gunship, which was followed closely by a Sheathipede Class shuttle.

The gunship landed in front of them and 3 Commando Droids leapt off the top, who killed the 6 escorting Guards ponies in a quick time of 1.8 seconds thanks to the Captain's heavy blaster.

Fluttershy cowered behind Cadance, while Pinkie retrieved her Party Cannon from nowhere one more and set it to maximum setting. She fired it, and a tremendous amount of cake was launched at the gunship, splatting the barrel of it's chin turret. The turret made a sputtering noise, as if clogged by the cake, before the gunship considered its other option.

The gunship turned to left and fired its remaining barrage of rockets into the nearby castle tower, which collapsed and landed on Pinkie Pie, burying her in it's rubble.

This left Princess Cadance and Fluttershy alone against the 3 droids. The Droid Captain and his 2 fellow BX Commando Droids trained their blasters on Cadance.

"Surrender the droid." The captain demanded in its deep emotionless voice.

Cadence uttered one word to Fluttershy

"Run."

Fluttershy didn't need to be told twice, or even once for that matter as she lept into nearby bushes.

Cadencd charged her magic to create final magic barrier to cover Fluttershy's escape, before her sheild collapsed under the combined firepower of the Commando Droids.

Right as it popped she took flight, attempting to fly away; the Commando Droid Captain flipping a switch on its weapon.

Cadence's flight was cut short as a blue ringed pulse impacted her body, which was accompanied by a loud "WYZZZzzz" sound.

Cadance dropped to the ground, all of her senses in a haze as everything she could see faded to black…

Fluttershy watched from the bushes shaking in fear as the droids dragged her limp body and the captured droid onto their shuttle, before it took off.

There was silence for a few moments before a pink hoof suddenly burst from the pile of rubble, followed by the rest of Pinkie Pie's body. Pinke left down from the pile and shook herself, chunks of debris flying from her mane as she called out

"Fluttershy? Cadance? Is anypony there?"

Fluttershy slowly emerged from the bushes shaking in fear. Pinkie bounced over and enveloped her friend in a hug, the 2 ponies standing alone in the light of the moon.


	33. Chapter 33: Securing the Palace

Chapter 33: Securing the Palace

Celestia blasted the 2nd to last droid with her magic, leaving only a single B1 Battle Droid left.

"Uh oh!" The droid said, as it began to run away only to be kicked out the window by Rainbow Dash

"OH MY GWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" The droid cried, as it fell to out to window where it smashed on the stone flooring hundreds of feet below.

Dash collapsed on the floor once more, moaning in pain.

Celestia, Luna and the rest of the Mane 6 nearby rushed over to her.

"Rainbow Dash, are you alright?"

Dash groaned and attempted to pick herself only to fall. She tried once more, this time managing to stand up and brace herself well.

"My wing…" she said, flexing her left wing and wincing in pain,

As the wing unfolded it revealed several burning holes through penetrative it, exposing bone in some areas, and going through others.

They all gasped, it was unlikely that such damage could be healed

Dash spat on the body of the Commando Droid that shot her in the wing, before sitting down again by the window.

"We need to get her to the hospital" Twilight said

"Ah'll take her. Don't worry about us, yall go find Fluttershy and Pinkie." Applejack said, picking her friend up off the ground and offering her support as they walked towards the medical wing…

Cadance's senses slowly came back to her. At first everything was fuzzy, and there was a loud ringing in her ears. Her body ached all over, and she struggled to take in her surroundings. Cadance was confused, she had no idea where she was. She tried to stand up, only to feel a strong tug on her legs. Cadance looked down, to see 2 sets of handcuff like restraints bound together by beams on energy around her front 2 and back 2 hooves, binding each pair together and restricting mobility. She tried to open her wings only to discover they too had been bound to her back in a similar manner. She looked up to see one off the black machines from earlier standing over her, with its weapon trained on her.

Cadance turned to look the other way, noticing several other Commando Droids nearby. Suddenly it all came rushing back to her. She remembered the attack on Canterlot, and the brief fight against the droids who seemed to have taken her prisoner.

"Wh… where an I?" She asked

"You have been captured by the Separatist Alliance. You will be taken into custody and questioned" the droid behind her said in a deep voice.

Cadance tried to break free from her restraints, only for them to get tighter.

"The restraints are specially designed for force users. Your struggle is pointless." The droid continued.

She tried to use her magic, but she couldn't concentrae enough due to the pounding headache she felt.

She accepted that she was helpless and at the machine's mercy.

The flight of the shuttle continued for a few more minutes before the shuttle shook with a series of thuds as it extended its landing gear and touched down inside the hanger bay of the Providence Class Carrier 'Enforcement'.

A door to her right opened and she was pulled up by her mane by the droid behind her and onto her hooves, before being shoved forward onto an exit ramp.

"Move."

She stepped slowly off of the ship and into the massive hanger bay of the Separatist Dreadnought. She looked to her right, and saw various machines and ships occupying the hanger bay, with the dark vacuum of space beyond some sort of blue energy barrier. She looked to her left, seeing the same, as the hanger stretched through the entire width of the vessel.

Cadance slowly walked forward, several of the hanger crew droids gazing at her defensively, ready for her to try and make a move. She didn't; she knew she was as good as dead if she tried anything. The Commando droid behind her shoved forwards her once more.

"Alright, I'm moving, you don't have to be so mean"

"Quiet."

They approached a door which opened automatically, revealing a seemingly endless corridor of hallways that she was ushered through…

Celestia, Luna, Twilight, and Rarity stepped through the Canterlot Castle's massive entrance doors outside into the cold night. In Front of them in the courtyard lied Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie embracing one another in a hug as Fluttershy cried. The two ponies were surrounded by the bodies of 6 royal guards, and the rubble of a fallee castle tower was piled nearby.

The group quickly ran to the aid of their friends.

"Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, are you alright? Where's Princess Cadance?" Twilight asked.

"Shes… gone… they took her" Fluttershy said sniffling "we're okay though."

"It appears as though our prisoner has escaped as well" Luna said.

Celestia looked over her dead guards ponies saddened before turning to her sister.

"Unfortunately that does indeed seem to be the case."

There was a pause

"So, what do we do now?! They have the prisoner, AND Cadance!" Twilight said, beginning to panic and breathe more rapidly.

Spike grabbed Twilights face by her cheeks and pulled her down to look him in the face

"Remember what she taught you, how to be calm under pressure!"

Twilight nodded slowly and placed a hoof to her chest, before taking a deep breath and slowly exhaling.

"As I was saying Princess, what do we do now?"

"We will have to get our bearings first, and tend to our wounded."

Twilight remembered that Rainbow Dash had been injured, and nodded.

"Lets see how Rainbow Dash is doing."

They headed back inside...


	34. Chapter 34: The Canterlot Medical Wing

Chapter 34: The Canterlot Medical Wing

The Mane 6 and the Princesses walked into the Canterlot Castle's Medical Wing, where debatably the most advanced medical care in Equestria was available. They opened a large door which revealed a large high ceiling hallway similar to the other halls in the Castle, except this hall was lined with various rooms that housed patients during their stay. There were many rooms, but there were not enough. Patients shared rooms, some even having 4 patients at once, with the only sense of privacy being divider curtains between patients. Some of the less injured patients were even on rolling beds in the hall, while various doctors and nurses tended to them.

As the mane 6 walked into the room, Applejack emerged from a room on the left side of the hall which had a sign above labeled 'Urgent Care'.

They hurried across the room, meeting Applejack just outside of the room.

"How is she?" Twilight asked

Applejack sighed and took a deep breath.

"She's in here restin, docs say her wing looks pretty bad."

They were all stepped into the room.

Various guards were also in beds in the room, some missing limbs, others badly scarred, and some with blankets draped over them, seemingly dead.

Dash lay at the far end of the room, laying in a bed by a window. Her left wing was completely bandaged up and in a cast, and an X Ray on the wall displayed her wing compared to a normal pegasus wing.

There was clear damage to the bones and nerves, with entire sections of the nerves and bones missing entirely.

2 doctor ponies stood nearby discussing her condition.

"Is there any hope for her doctor?" Celestia asked "we need all of the Elements of Harmony if we are to win."

"She'll live that's for sure, she's in stable condition. The real concern as your friend told you is her left wing. The injuries to it are severe" he said, pointing to the X-Ray "as you can see, the structure of the wing is badly damaged, with muscles nerves and bones being likely damaged beyond the point of total recovery. It would take a total miracle for her wing to heal properly."

"Is there anything we can do to help?" Fluttershy asked

"Unless you have the ability to spontaneously regenerate tissue and bone, no, I'm afraid not."

Dash shifted in her bed and opened her eyes.

"Oooh…" she moaned in pain, trying to flex her wing

A nurse quickly rushed over and held her still

"I'm sorry , you can't move, you're still too injured!"

Dash grunted and turned her head to her friends, who offered her warming smiles.

Dash's face changed to one of concern.

"Where's Princess Cadance?"

"She was taken, by the machines!" Rarity said

"What?!" Dash exclaimed

She tried to get up again but was restrained by the doctors.

"Pinkie Pie and I were trying to escape with her when this ship came down, and they shot this blue thing at her, and she fell down. But she was still breathing, so I hope that she's still okay?" Fluttershy explained with worry in her voice

"Of well that's just perfect!" Dash said sarcastically "what the hay do we do now?"

"We will have to perform a rescue operation once you are able to fight again. I need all of you at your full strength if we are to rescue her and save Equestria. You should rest Rainbow Dash" Celestia said

"If thou would excuse us we must go see to see our other wounded." Luna said, walking away with Celestia.

There was a pause in conversation before Twilight asked the doctor pony

"What do we if she can't recover? Will she ever fly again?"

"Well we've been discussing that" the nurse said, walking over to join the conversation "and we have decided that the best course of action would be a prosthetic wing replacement or brace."

"What?!" Dash exclaimed looking at her wing in alarm "your going to do what with my wing?"

"A prosthetic" explained the doctor "it's like a pony-made replacement for a limb or wing."

"Aw pony feathers…" she grumbled, looking at her injured wing.

"If we must use this solution, we will try to save as much of your wing as we can." The doctor said.

There was the sound of crutches and the Mane 6 looked over to see Starlight Glimmer stepping into the room being guided by Trixie, her front legs on crutches and wrapped in bandages.

"Hey, you weren't planning on leaving without saying hello to me where you?" She asked

"We didn't know you were here." Twilight explained as she walked over. "Are you alright Starlight?"

"I'm alright. There was an explosion in Manehattan that broke my front legs, but turns out it isn't too bad, they say I should be good to go in a few days."

"That's good." Twilight said

"So, what are you here for?" Trixie asked

"Rainbow got hit in her wing pretty bad by one of their droids. They say it's likely she will need a prosthetic."

"Thats terri-er, that's unfortunate" Starlight said, not wanting to trigger a panic attack in Twilight.

"Look on the bright side Twilight," Trixie said "It could have been a lot worse!"

"Gee, thanks, that's reassuring..." she said

"Excuse me, if you could leave now it would be helpful." The doctor pony said "Mrs. Dash is going to be needing her rest and we need some room to work here."

"Sure, no problem." Twilight replied

"Come'on y'all, the docs need some space." Applejack said, ushering the others out "and we need to hit the hay, we'll need our rest" she added.

Cadance was guided down a series of corridors that eventually came to an intersection. A squad of 4 Security B1s and an OOM Commander greeted them, appearing to be following a small black box on the ground that rolled on wheels.

"Take this prisoner to brig A-7" the Commando Droid Captain ordered "I must report to my other duties"

"Roger roger!" The droid commander said, before looking down at the small black box.

"You heard him, take us to brig A-7." He said, looking back up at Cadance "And you, follow us. And no tricks! We'll be watching!"

The box squeaked in response and began to roll down a hallway as the droids and Cadance followed behind. As they walked, behind her Cadance heard the sound of the droid commander speaking to someone through its radio, no doubt its commanding officer.

"Sir, the patrol has captured a prisoner and we are taking it to brig A-7."

There was a series of noises that sounded like a deep voice in response but it was too quiet to make out the words.

"Roger roger, we'll meet you there!" He said, before ordering them to speed up.

After several minutes of walking they came to a door which opened to reveal a narrow passage with large metal doors on the left side. A tall green droid with 3 yellow eyes stood ahead with 2 red security B1 droids next to it, along with 2 tall grey droids with glowing red eyes and another red light on its chestplate. Both carried staffs or prods of sometype in their hands.

"Halt." Ordered the security B1 droid that had been holding her at gunpoint as she was escorted throughout the ship.

Cadance did as asked, and the OOM Command droid began to squeeze through the squad of escorting droids, before stepping around Cadance

"Sorry. Sorry, excuse me" it said, before walking up to the tall green droid

"Sir, this is the prisoner the breakout task force captured."

"Well done OOM-58226, you may return to your duties." The droid said in a deep voice, before pressing a button on a control panel to its right. A door opened revealing a small boxy room with what seemed to be a pedestal in the center, illuminated by a red light originating from under the floor grated, creating a dark and sinister feeling. In the corner there was also a droid nearly identical to the one that had tortured Sunburst, but in a silver color as opposed to bronze.

Cadance was pushed down the stairs into the room by one of the security droids.

"OW! You didn't have to do that!" She shouted

"Quiet you" the droid said, stepping down the stairs and being followed by the other security droids. Moments later the 2 large red eyed droids stepped in, followed by the tall green droid with 3 yellow eyes.

"Magnaguards, activate restrictor fields and position the prisoner for interrogation"

Cadance was grapped by her forelegs and hoisted into the air by the Magnaguard droids, before being positioned with her front legs in the air in the cells restrictor field, meaning that she appeared in a bipedal position.

"I give you the opportunity to allow you to provide us with the Equine's tactical information, or you will suffer immensely. I want knowledge of your magic, how to utilize it, and Equine weaknesses. If you cooperate, you will not be terminated." Kraken said

"As a Princess of Equestria, my duty is to defend my home and its subjects. I will not betray my home!"

"Very well then" Kraken replied, activating the EV interrogator droid in the corner. The Droids photoreceptors lit up a menacing red color, and it walked forwards, examining Cadance.

"Such an interesting specimen…" the droid said in a raspy mechanical voice.

"EV-87-6, I want tactical data, her knowledge of magic, and her species weaknesses. You will keep her alive. Is that understood?"

"Yes Commander Kraken" the EV interrogator droid replied, and Kraken left the cell to return to the bridge, leaving the 2 magnaguards there for extra security attaching a collar around her neck which monitored her heart rate, breathing rate, brain activity, and other vital signs.

"This collar will monitor your vital signs…" he said, "whether you are being truthful, and my personal favorite" he continued, stepping behind a control console in the corner of the room "pain…"

A look of horror spread across Cadance's face as she tried prepared herself for what was about to come. EV-87-6 twisted a dial on the panel and Cadance began to convulse as electricity tore through her body…


End file.
